PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF PADDY CULTIVATION

IN KUTTANAD REGION

A Case Study of Ramankari Village in Kuttanad Taluk

DRAFT REPORT

P M THOMAS

A Project of Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development (KRPLLD), Thiruvananthapuram

January, 2002

CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION 1 - 13 1.1 Review of the Performance of Paddy Farm Sector in Kerala

2

1.2 Need for the Revival of Paddy Farm Sector

6

1.3 Kuttanad Region and the States Rice Economy

8

1.4 Study Area and Its Relevance

10

1.5 Objectives of the Study

11

1.6 Methodology and Source of Data

12

1.7 Plan of the Study 13

II TRANSFORMATION OF PADDY FARM SECTOR IN KUTTANAD REGION

14 - 29

2.1 Specific Features of Paddy Cultivation in Kuttanad

14

2.2 History of Land Reclamation

16

2.3 Efforts to Increase Intensity and Productivity of Paddy Crop

18

2.4 Changes in Agrarian Relations

21

III PADDY CULTIVATION IN RAMANKARI VILLAGE 30

- 50

3.1 Study Area - Some General Observations

30

3.2 Socio – economic Background of Paddy Farmers

35

3.3 Changes in Farming Practices in Ramankari Village

41

IV ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF PADDY CULTIVATION 52

- 63

4.1 Cost Components

53

4.2 Productivity and Value of Product

60

4.3 Profitability of Paddy Crop in the Study Area

62

V PROBLEMS OF THE PADDY FARM SECTOR IN RAMANKARI AND SUGGESTIFOR ITS IMPROVEMENT 63 - 79 5.1 Current Problems

64

5.2 Suggestions

74

BIBLIOGRAPHY

* * * * *

LIST OF TABLES

1.1 Area, Production and Productivity of Rice in Kerala and India 3

1.2 Area, Production and Productivity of Rice in Kerala During the Period 1960-61 to

1999-2000 5

1.3 Area, Production and Productivity of Rice in Kuttanad Region During the Period 1990-91 to

1999-2000 10 3.1 Age wise Distribution of Persons in Sample Households 31

3.2 Distribution of Village of Population on the Basis of Their Education Status 32

3.3 Employment Status of Village Population 33

3.4 Occupation wise Distribution of Employed Persons in Ramankari Village 34

3.5 Distribution of Village Households on the Basis of Owned Land Area 35

3.6 Community wise Distribution of Sample Households 36

3.7 Age wise Distribution of Sample Households Members 37

3.8 Education Status of Sample Household Members 38

3.9 Activity Status of Sample Household Members 38

3.10 Occupation wise Distribution of Employed Persons from Farmer Households 39

3.11 Debt Position of Sample Farmer Households 40

3.12 Political Leaning of Sample Paddy Farmers 41

4.1 Consumption and cost of Fertilizers in Paddy Cultivation 54

4.2 Use of Weedicides and Pesticides and Their Costs 55

4.3 Distribution of Material Costs in Paddy Cultivation 55

4.4 Human Labour Costs in Paddy Cultivation 58

4.5 Distribution of Machine Labour Costs 59

4.6 Cost of Cultivation of Paddy crop in Ramankari village 60

4.7 Productivity, Price and Value of Product of Paddy Crop in Ramankari Village 61

4.8 Gross and Net Profits in Paddy Cultivation in the Study Area 62

5.1 Distribution of Sample Farmers on the Basis of Their Major Occupation 68

5.2 Age Distribution of Sample Cultivators in Ramankari Village 70

* * *

Chapter - 1

INTRODUCTION

Even though the food habits of the people of Kerala had remarkably changed

over the last few decades, rice still continues to be their staple food. The diverse

topographic, climatic and soil conditions of the state enable its people to cultivate a

wide variety of seasonal and perennial crops. The various crops raised within the

state are broadly classified into food crops, garden crops and plantation crops1. An

analysis of the changes in the cropping pattern in Kerala during its post formation

period clearly shows that there has been a persistent shift in favour of garden crops

and plantation crops at the expense of food crops. Within a period of 40 years

from1960-61 to 1998-99 area under the principal food crops declined from 11.23

lakh to 5.65 lakh hectares showing an aggregate decrease of 49.69 percent.

Meanwhile area under the major garden crops viz., coconut, arecanut, cashewnut and

pepper increased from 6.55 lakh to 12.30 lakh hectares and area under plantation

crops increased from 2.06 lakh to 6.32 lakh hectares showing overall increases of

87.79 percent and 206.83 percent respectively.

Rice accounts for nearly 95 percent of the total amount of food grains

produced within the state. Over the past several decades the state government had

initiated and implemented several intensive and extensive measures to increase

domestic rice production. Agricultural development programmes like the Intensive

Agricultural District Programme (IADP) of 1960-61, the Intensive Paddy

Development Programme (Package Programme) of 1971-72, the Operational

Research Project in Integrated Rice Pest Control implemented from 1975 to 1995,

the Group Farming Programme of 1989-90 and the Integrated Programme for Rice

Development (IPRD) of 1994-95 were designed exclusively for the development of

the state’s paddy farm sector. Large number of research institutions and soil testing

laboratories were also set up in the major rice producing areas of the state. Nearly 20

1 Food crops include paddy, tapioca, other cereals and millets, banana and other plantains and pulses. Crops like coconut, arecanut, cashewnut and pepper are garden crops while tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber are plantation crops.

percent of the total outlays of the Five Year Plans so far implemented in the state had

been earmarked for the development of its primary sector and a major portion of the

amount were spent for the promotion of paddy cultivation. Again almost all of the

major and medium irrigation projects in the state were also executed with a view to

facilitate both extensive and intensive paddy cultivation

In spite of the strenuous efforts of the government, the hither to performance

of the paddy farm sector in the state has been quite disappointing. Since the mid

seventies both the area under the crop and production of paddy had been declining in

the state at alarming rates. Paddy growing areas in Kerala amounted to 33.16 percent

of its total cropped area (TCA) during the year 1960-61. It declined to 18.38 percent

in 1990-91 and further decreased to 12.10 percent by the year 1998-99. In this

background the present study is a micro level attempt to identify the current

problems in the paddy farm sector and to suggest remedial measures for its revival

1.1 Review of the Performance of Paddy Farm Sector in Kerala

According to 1961 census Kerala had a population of 16.9 millions that

amounted to 3.85 percent of the country’s total population. In the year 1960-61 the

state accounted for 2.5 percent of the total amount of rice produced inside the

country. The relative shares of the state both in area and production of rice showed

positive growth trends through out that decade but began to decline since the early

years of the seventies. By the year 1980-81 the state’s share in area under paddy and

rice production declined to 2 percent and 2.37 percent respectively. As per the 1991

census the state’s population increased to 29.1 millions which was 3.45 percent of the

country’s total population in that year. In spite of it, the percentage share of the state

in area under paddy crop had decreased to 1.31 and its share in the total rice

production in the country came down to 1.46 percent during the year 1990-91.

Kerala’s population for the year 1999 is projected as 31.98 millions which amounts to

3.26 percent of the country’s total population2. However, the relative shares of the

2 GOK (1998): Statistics Since Independence, Department of Economics and Statistics (DES), Thiruvananthapuram, p.43, table 2.7.

state in area and production of paddy during the year 1998-99 are found to be 0.79

percent and 0.85 percent respectively. A comparison in the performance of Kerala

and India in the area, production and productivity of rice during the period 1960-61 to

1998-99 is shown in table 1.1.

Table 1.1

Note: Percentage share of Kerala in area and production are given in parentheses Source: CSO (1987), Basic Statistics Relating to Indian Economy – 1986 SPB (various issues): Economic Review

In terms of the per hectare productivity of rice the state’s position had been

comparatively better. During the year 1960-61 the average productivity of rice in the

state, which stood at 1371 kilograms per hectare, was 23 percent higher than that of

the national level productivity. Thereafter the relative advantage of the state in this

respect has been gradually narrowing down. The difference in rice productivity

declined to 18.79 percent during the year 1980-81 and further decreased to 6.79

percent by the year 1998-99. Further it is pointed out that even though the rice

productivity in the state at the current level is still higher than the national average, it

lags behind the levels achieved by the major rice producing states of Punjab,

Tamilnadu and West Bengal3.

Area under the crop and its per hectare productivity can be regarded as the

two pure components of rice production. On the basis of the overall performance of

3 GOK (2001): Economic Review 2000, SPB, Thiruvanathapuram, p. 43.

Area (‘000 ha) Production (‘000 tones) Productivity (kg/ha) Year Kerala India Kerala India Kerala India

1960 – 1961 779(2.50) 31128 1068(3.09) 34574 1371 1111 1965 – 1966 802(2.26) 35470 997(3.26) 30589 1243 862 1970 – 1971 875(2.35) 37286 1292(3.40) 38051 1477 1021 1975 – 1976 876(2.23) 39284 1331(2.81) 47361 1519 1206 1980 – 1981 802(2.00) 40152 1272(2.37) 53631 1587 1336 1985 – 1986 678(1.65) 41137 1173(1.84) 63825 1729 1552 1990 – 1991 559(1.31) 42690 1087(1.46) 74290 1942 1740 1995 – 1996 471(1.10) 42910 953(1.20) 79618 2023 1855 1998 – 1999 353(0.79) 44598 727(0.85) 85995 2061 1930

Area, Production and Productivity of Rice in Kerala and India

the paddy farm sector in Kerala, the post formation era of the state can be broadly

divided in to two distinct periods - first, the period prior to the mid seventies and

second, the period after the mid seventies. During the first period both the area and

yield effects had been positive and hence the state’s rice production had also showed

positive growth trends. However, even though the yield effect continued to be

positive, the negative area effect had become more prominent during the second

period. As a result of it, rice production began to show negative growth rates in the

state since the mid seventies. Area, production and productivity of rice in Kerala

during the period 1960-61 to 1999-2000 are given in table1.2.

During the decade 1960-61 to 1969-70 area under paddy crop in Kerala rose

from 778.91 thousand to 874.04 thousand hectares showing an overall increase of

12.21 percent and an annual compound growth rate of 1.29 percent. The positive

growth trend in area continued till the mid seventies. However, within the period

1974-75 to 1999-2000 area under the crop in the state declined from 881.47 thousand

to 349.77 thousand hectares registering an aggregate loss of 531.7 thousand hectares.

The annual compound growth rate in area during this period is estimated to be – 3.63

percent. A more or less similar trend pattern is discernible in the state’s rice

production also. Domestic production of rice in Kerala attained its peak level in 1972-

73 when the state produced 13.76 lakh tonnes. In spite of a sharp decline in out put

during the next year, the state was able to maintain almost the same level of

production till the mid seventies. During the period 1974-75 to1999-2000 production

of paddy declined from 13.33 lakh to 7.71 lakh tonnes showing an aggregate decrease

of 42.16 per cent. The annual growth rate in production during this period is found to

be – 2.17 percent per year. Again, it can be seen that compared to the eighties the

average annual rate of decline in area and production of paddy in Kerala had become

more severe during the nineties.

In most of the years during the last four decades, per hectare rice productivity

in Kerala had shown positive annual growth rates. Between 1960-61 and 1999-2000

productivity of the crop in the state recorded an overall increase of 68.55 percent

registering an annual growth rate of 1.35 percent. Compared to the first period (1960-

61 to 1974-75), the annual growth rate in productivity is found to be higher during the

second period (1974-75 to 1999-2000). While during the first period rice productivity

had increased from 1371 kilograms to 1513 kilograms per hectare showing an annual

growth rate of 0.71 percent, the corresponding growth rate during the second period is

found to be 1.51 percent. The relatively better average annual rice productivity during

Table 1.2 Area, Production and Productivity of rice in Kerala During

the period 1960 - 61 to 1999 - 2000

Note: Annual growth rates are given in parentheses. Source: BES (1967), Fact Book on Agriculture 1966; BES (1976), Agricultural Statistics in Kerala 1975;

SPB (Various issues), Economic Review

the second period to a great extent can be attributed to the spurt in per hectare yields

during the two terminal years of that period, especially the last year in which

productivity has increased by 6.89 percent. Comparative growth trends in the index

Year Area (in ‘000ha) Production (in’000tones)

Productivity (in kg. /ha)

1960 – 61 778.91(NA) 1067.53 (NA) 1371 (NA) 1961 – 62 752.69(-3.37) 1003.93(-5.96) 1334(-2.70) 1966 – 63 802.66(6.64) 1093.93(8.89) 1362(2.10) 1963 – 64 805.08(0.30) 1128.00(3.18) 1401(2.86) 1964 – 65 801.12(-0.49) 1121.38(-0.59) 1460(4.21) 1965 – 66 802.33(0.15) 997.49(-11.05) 1243(-14.86) 1966 – 67 779.44(-2.85) 1084.16(8.68) 1356(9.09) 1967 – 68 809.54(3.86) 1123.90(3.68) 1388(2.36) 1968 – 69 873.87(7.95) 1251.35(11.34) 1432(3.17) 1969 – 70 874.04(0.02) 1226.41(-2.00) 1403(-2.03) 1970 – 71 874.93(0.10) 1292.01(5.35) 1483(5.70) 1971 – 72 875.16(0.03) 1351.74(4.62) 1544(4.11) 1972 – 73 873.70(-0.17) 1376.37(1.82) 1575(2.01) 1973 – 74 874.68(0.11) 1257.67(-8.62) 1437(-8.76) 1974 – 75 881.47(0.78) 1333.03(5.99) 1513(5.29) 1975 – 76 876.02(-0.62) 1331.19(-0.14) 1520(0.46) 1976 – 77 854.37(-2.47) 1254.00(-5.80) 1468(-3.42) 1977 – 78 840.31(-1.65) 1294.64(3.24) 1541(4.97) 1978 – 79 779.24(-7.27) 1272.74(-1.69) 1592(3.31) 1979 – 80 793.27(1.80) 1299.70(2.12) 1638(2.89) 1980 – 81 801.70(1.06) 1272.00(-2.13) 1587(-3.11) 1981 – 82 806.92(0.65) 1339.87(5.34) 1660(4.60) 1982 – 83 797.89(-1.12) 1308.01(-2.38) 1639(-1.27) 1983 – 84 740.09(-7.24) 1207.92(-7.650 1632(-0.43) 1985 – 86 678.28(-7.13) 1173.05(-6.60) 1729(0.52) 1986 – 87 663.28(-2.23) 1133.79(-3.35) 1708(-0.58) 1987 – 88 604.08(-8.90) 1032.58(-8.92) 1709(0.06) 1988 – 89 577.00(-4.47) 1013.00(-1.90) 1754(2.63) 1989 – 90 583.39(1.11) 1141.23(12.66) 1956(11.52) 1990 – 91 559.49(-4.10) 1086.58(-4.79) 1943(-0.72) 1991 – 92 541.33(-3.25) 1060.35(-2.43) 1959(0.88) 1992 – 93 537.68(-0.67) 1084.88(2.31) 2018(3.01) 1993 – 94 507.68(-5.55) 1003.99(-7.46) 1977(-2.03) 1994 – 95 503.29(-0.89) 975.07(-2.88) 1937(-2.02) 1995 – 96 471.15(-6.39) 953.03(-2.26) 2023(4.44) 1996 – 97 430.83(-8.56) 871.36(-8.57) 2022(0.05) 1997 – 98 387.11(-10.15) 764.61(-12.25) 1975(-2.32) 1998 – 99 352.63(-8.91) 726.74(-4.95) 2061(4.35) 1999 – ‘00 349.77(-0.81) 770.69(6.05) 2203(6.89)

numbers of area, production and productivity of paddy crop in Kerala during the

period 1975-76 to 1999-2000 is shown in fig.1.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

16019

75 -

76

1977

- 78

1979

- 80

1981

- 82

1983

- 84

1985

- 86

1987

- 88

1989

-90

1991

- 92

1993

- 94

1995

- 96

1997

- 98

1999

- 00

Are

a,P

rodu

ctio

n,P

rodu

ctiv

ity

AreaProductionProductivity

Fig.1Growth Trends in the Index Numbers of Area,Production

and Productivity Since 1975 - 76 (Base :1975 - 76 = 100)

1.2 Need for the Revival of Paddy Farm Sector in Kerala

Since the early seventies, per capita availability rice produced within the

state had been rapidly declining in Kerala. During the year 1971, the estimated per

capita daily availability of domestic rice in the state was 173.64 grams. It declined to

144.24 grams in 1981 and by the year 1991 it further decreased to 97.15 grams. The

adult equivalent projected population for the year 2000 in the state is found to be 267

lakhs. As recommended by the State Nutrition Bureau the required daily balanced

diet of an adult in Kerala should contain 460 grams of cereals 4. As per this norm the

total cereal requirement of the state in that year amounts to 44.83 lakh tonnes but the

states realised domestic production in 1999-2000 was only 7.71 lakh tonnes. It is

sufficient only to meet 17.2 percent of our expected requirements. Earlier the state

4 Quoted in, Suseelan P (1988): Problems and Prospects of Rice in Kerala, Paper Presented in the VIII Five Year Plan workshop on Agricultural Development Held at Thiruvananthapuram on 6th October, p.4

Planning Board had projected the cereal requirements of the state for the year 2001 as

54.81 lakh tonnes5. Even if the state succeeds to retain the current level of output, the

expected deficit for the year would be 86 percent.

Even though, tapioca is often considered as an inferior substitute for rice in

Kerala, its popularity as a major food item has substantially lessened in recent years.

Within a period of twenty years from 1980-81 to 1999-2000 annual production of

tapioca in the state had declined from 40.61 lakh tonnes to 25.64 lakh tonnes and area

under the crop decreased from 2.5 lakh hectares to 1.09 lakh hectares. At present a

major portion of the product is sent to the neighbouring states for the production of

starch used textile mills. Due to the topographic and climatic constraints, cultivation

of other cereals like wheat or barley is not viable in this state. Again, in recent years

the quantity of rice and wheat distributed through the so-called Public Distribution

System (PDS) of the state had declined drastically. The off- take of rice and wheat

distributed through the PDS in 2000 were 6.14 lakh tonnes and 0.62 lakh tonnes

respectively while the corresponding amounts during the year 1998 were 16.39 lakh

tonnes and 4.58 lakh tonnes6. Allowing the widening gap between the domestic

production and requirement of rice to be filled with growing imports from other states

by private individuals or even through enhanced central allotments poses a severe

threat to the food security of the state’s population.

Paddy crop not only provides food for the human population but is also a

major source of fodder to the ever-growing bovine population in the state. Only a

negligible portion of the total geographical area in Kerala is kept as permanent

pastures. In the year 1998- 99 the extent of area kept as permanent pastures and

grazing land in the state was merely 682 hectares which amounted to only 0.18

percent of its total geographical area. The per capita cereal intake in a country has a

tendency to decline with an increase in per capita income as increase in their

disposable income induces people to spend relatively more on non-cereal food items

like meat, milk and egg. However, “this implies that while the demand for cereals as

5 GOK (1982): Food Projection for Kerala State upto 2001 AD, SPB, Thiruvananthapuram 6 GOK (2001): Economic Review 2000, Op.cit., p.33

food decreases, its indirect demand increases as increasing milk and meat demand

extends in turn a demand for cereals as livestock feed”.7

The sluggish pace of growth of industrial development coupled with high

population growth rates in many less developed countries (LACs) has made it clear

that for quite some time agriculture will have to continue to provide employment to

many in LACs8. Agricultural sector of these countries has a latent capacity to absorb

more labour. This condition is of vital importance in a state like Kerala where the

performance of the industrial sector had so far been dismal and the rate of

unemployment is as high as 20 percent. Compared to garden crops and plantation

crops, paddy crop is more labour intensive. The percentage share of labour costs in

the per hectare cost of paddy cultivation is estimated to be around 65 per cent while in

the case of coconut crop it is only about 50 percent. The proportion of hired labour

use in paddy cultivation is also found to be comparatively higher9. The revival of the

state’s paddy farm sector will definitely help to reduce the mounting problem of rural

unemployment in the state. Thus in many respects the overall development of the

state’s economy is closely related to the development of its paddy farm sector.

1.3 Kuttanad Region and the State’s Rice Economy

Kuttanad region comprises of ten taluks spread over the three districts of

Alapuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. More than two thirds of the total land area

in this region is wetlands. Enriched by the silt deposited through the river systems of

Meenachil, Pamba, Manimala and Achencoil, the loamy soil in this region is very

fertile and suitable for paddy cultivation. As the wetlands in Kuttanad are submerged

in water for most part of the year and due to poor drainage facilities annual and

perennial crops cannot be successfully cultivated in these lands. Hence from early

days paddy farming had become the principal economic activity of the local

population. According to 1991 census, 11.3 percent of the total work force in this area

was paddy cultivators and another 57.13 percent were agricultural labourers. Thus

7 Menasha J V (1996): How Important are Changes in Taste - State Level Analysis of Food Intake Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XXXI No.50, 14 December, p.3268 8 Ninan K N (1984): Labour use in Agriculture – case studies of Tapioca and Paddy, Economic and Political weekly.Vol.XIX, Nos.52 – 53, 22 – 29 December, pp. A – 199,200 9 GOK (1992): Report on the cost of Cultivation of Important crops in Kerala 1989 – 90, DES, Thiruvananthapuram.

agricultural activity, mainly work in paddy fields, forms around 70 percent of all

economic activity in Kuttanad.

Almost all of the paddy growing lowlands in Alapuzha, Kottayam and

Pathanamthitta districts lie in Kuttanad region. Total area under paddy crop in this

region during the year 1986-87 was 112.43 thousand hectares10. It amounts to 16.58

percent of the total area under crop in Kerala in that year. In the same year the region

produced 210.17 thousands tonnes of rice production. The region has also helped the

state to retain its relatively better position in rice productivity in the all India level.

During 1986-87 the per hectare productivity of the crop in Kuttanad region is found

to be 1834 kilograms which was 7.38 percent higher than the state level average

productivity.

Both the area and production of paddy at the state level had shown negative

growth rates during the second half of the eighties. Even though area under the crop

in Kuttanad also had declined during this period, the average annual rate of decline

had been comparatively lesser. As against the negative growth trends in production at

the state level Kuttanad region recorded positive growth trends and the average

annual growth rate in per hectare rice productivity of the region is also found to be

comparatively higher during this period. The relatively better performance of the

Kuttanad region in all these respects had prompted the Indo-Dutch Mission to state

that the “Statistical data on acres and yields show a less disturbing picture of paddy

cultivation in the Kuttanad area than for Kerala as a whole”.

Kuttanad region accounted for more than 18 percent of the paddy growing

areas in 1990-91. With in a period of ten years from 1990-91 to 1999-2000 area under

the crop declined from 101.17 thousand to 57.87 thousand hectares. Meanwhile, the

percentage share of the region in the states total area under paddy declined to 16.54

showing that the rate of decline had been sharper in this region. In the same decade

total production of rice in the region decreased from 227.61 thousand tonnes to

152.16 thousand tonnes showing an aggregate decrease of 33.15 percent. The

percentage share of the region in the state’s total rice production had also shown a

10 District wise figures of Alapuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta were added to estimate the total area and production of rice in Kuttanad region and per hectare rice productivity is taken as the weighted arithmetic mean of the productivity of the three districts.

marginal decrease during this period. Coming to per hectare yields, Kuttanad region

provides a different picture. Through out the decade the average productivity of rice

in this region had been significantly higher to the state level average. The

comparative advantage of the region in this respect rose from 15.6 percent to 19.38

percent in between 1990-91 and 1999-2000. Annual growth rates in area, production

and productivity of paddy in Kuttanad region during this period are found to be -6.02

percent, -4.38 percent and 1.77 percent respectively while the corresponding figures

are estimated as -5.08 percent, -3.74 percent and 1.41 percent. In brief the

comparative analysis regarding the paddy farm sector of Kuttanad region and Kerala

clearly shows that the performance of the former had been comparatively better till

the end of the eighties. However, since the beginning of the nineties the performance

of the region both in terms of area and production of paddy had begun to deteriorate

at unprecedented levels. Area, Production and Productivity of paddy in Kuttanad

region during the period 1990-2000 are given in table 1.3.

Note: Percentage to state level figures are given in brackets Source: Estimated from SPB (various issues), Economic Review

1.4 Study Area and Its Relevance

Ramankari village, which is selected as the area of the present micro level

study is situated in Kuttanad taluk. The taluk, which lies in Alapuzha district, was

Year Area (in ‘000ha) Production (in ‘000 tones) Productivity (in kg/ha) 1990 – 91 101.17(18.08) 227.61(20.95) 2245(115.60) 1991 – 92 92.88(17.16) 201.63(19.02) 2170(110.77) 1992 – 93 91.78(17.07 217.81(20.08) 2373(117.59) 1994 – 95 90.92(18.07) 180.22(18.48) 1978(102.12) 1995 -96 79.82(16.94) 203.87(21.39) 2554(126.25) 1996 – 97 72.64(16.86) 152.61(17.51) 2101(103.91) 1997 – 98 65.74(16.98) 142.69(18.66) 2171(109.92) 1998 – 99 57.02(16.17) 146.81(20.20) 2547(123.58) 1999-00 57.87(16.54) 152.16(19.74) 2630(119.38)

Av.Annual 79.72(17.18) 182.57(19.64) 2306(114.61) Compound

Growth Rate

-6.02

-4.38

1.77

Table 1.3 Area, Production and Productivity of Rice in Kuttanad

Region During the period 1990 – 91 to 1999 - 2000

formed in 1956 incorporating the low lying villages transferred from then Kottayam

and Changanacherry taluks of Kottayam district and Ambalapuzha taluk of Kollam

district. This taluk covers a total area of 74392 acres of which 61251 acres (82.34

percent) are wetlands, 5937 acres (7.98percent) are dry lands and the remaining 7204

acres (9.98 percent) are either non-cultivable wastelands or water bodies. Nearly 35

percent of the number of padasekharams and 40 percent of the total area under paddy

crop in the whole Kuttanad region lie in this taluk. It is part of the Kayal zone of the

region. As per the 1991 census there are 40794 households in Kuttanad taluk with a

total population of 210004. Total number of main workers in this taluk is found to be

69462. Out of them 57.18 percent are agricultural labourers and another 11.13 percent

are farmers. Thus agricultural activity provides livelihood to more than two-thirds of

the populations in this taluk.

Kuttanad taluk consists of 14 villages viz., Kainakari North, Kainakari South,

Nedumudi, Thakazhi, Champakulam, Pulinkunnu, Kavalam, Neelamperoor,

Veliyanad, Muttar, Thalavady, Edathua, Kunnumma and Ramankari. Among them,

Ramankari is located at the central part of the taluk. The village lies on both sides of

the Changanacherry-Alapuzha road in between 7 km to 11.2 km from

Changanacherry. It is surrounded by the villages of Veliyanad (North and East),

Muttar, Edathua (South) and Champakulam (West). The village covers a total area of

2804 acres of which 2484 acres (88.59 percent) are wetlands. According to 1991

census there are 2118 occupied residential houses and 2138 households in the village

with a total population of 11189 persons. Paddy farming had been an age-old

occupation of a considerable section of the population in this village and even now

majority of the people here depends on this crop for their livelihood.

As the residential village of the sitting MLA of Kuttanad constituency over a

period of more than one decade, every nook and corner of Ramankari village are well

connected by roads unlike many of the remote areas of other villages which lack

proper conveyance facilities. Hence the task of primary data collection is made much

easier in this village. The head office of the Kuttanad Vikasana Smithy - a voluntary

organization which strives for the development of Kuttanad area has already

established a healthy impact among the farmer and farm laborers of the region - is

also situated in Ramakari village. Considering the above factors, Ramakari village

has been selected as the study area of this project.

1.5 Objectives of the Study

This study is a development oriented village level study. The major thrust of

the study is on the revival and development of paddy farming sector in Kuttanad

region. With this focus the study aims

a) To examine the salient features in the transformation of the rice economy of

Kuttanad region,

b) To examine the socio-economic profile of paddy farmers in the study area,

c) To analyse the changes in paddy farming operations in the study area,

d) To assess the economic viability of paddy cultivation in its present level,

e) To identify the current problems in paddy farming and ,

f) To suggest appropriate measures for the development of paddy farming sector in

the study area,

1.6 Methodology and Source of Data

This study is focused on the contemporary issues related to paddy cultivation

in Ramakari village. Along with the conventional research methods we have adopted

various Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods, which calls for the active

involvement of local people in the research process. In order to establish a good

rapport with the village people and thereby to elicit their co-operation in the onset of

study itself we personally contacted the panchayat members and other grass root level

political leaders, trade union leaders, active members of Kuttanad Vikasana Samithi,

Ramakari village office staff and a large numbers of paddy farmers and farm laborers

of the study area. In order to study the demographic and occupational particulars of

the local population we conducted a pilot survey covering the whole study area.

Through this survey we collected details regarding the family size, age composition,

education and occupation status and size of owned holdings (both dry and wet) from

750 households in the village.

The pilot survey reveals that around one-third of the households in the study

area own cultivating paddy fields. Based on the size of owned paddy lands, farmers of

the study area had been broadly classified in to four categories viz., marginal farmers

with less than one acre, small farmers with 1 to 2.5 acres, medium farmers with 2.5 to

5 acres and large farmers with more than 5 acres. From among these different

categories of paddy farmers, 90 farmers were selected as the sample units for a

detailed survey on the basis of stratified sampling method. The sample consisted of

30 marginal farmers, 33 small farmers, 15 medium farmers and 12 large farmers.

Later our field investigators contacted all the sample farmers in person and collected

relevant data from them using a pre-tested structured interview schedule. In order to

supplement the thus collected data we discussed the pertinent issues with the

members of padasekharam committees and aged farmers and recorded their opinions

and suggestions. A series of focus group discussion programmes were also held at

different parts of the study area. In data analysis conventional statistical tools had

been applied.

Major sources of secondary data used in this study are the publications of the

State Planning Board (SPB), Department of Economics and Statistics (DES) of the

state government earlier known as the Bureau of Economics and Statistics (BES),

Kerala Agricultural University, Rice Research Centres, Kerala Sasthra Sahithya

Parishat etc. Census Survey Reports, village office records, data collected by the

Ramakari panchayat for local level planning, research papers, articles and various

Commission Reports are also used in this study.

1.7 Plan of the Study

Content of this study is presented in five chapters. The introductory chapter

begins with an analysis of the state’s rice economy during the past four decades. It is

followed by an appraisal of the growth trends in area, production and productivity of

paddy crop in Kuttanad region and the significance of the region in the state’s rice

economy. Need for the revival of paddy cultivation, relevance of the study area and

the objectives and methodology of the present study are also given in this chapter.

Important land marks in the history of paddy cultivation in Kuttanad region such as

the reclamation of kayal lands, introduction of the new agricultural strategy of Green

Revolution and other efforts to intensify crop productivity, implementation of land

reforms, spread of trade unionism and the resultant changes in agrarian relation in the

region etc. are discussed in the second chapter. In chapter three, we examine the

general features of the study area, socio-economic profile of local paddy farmers, and

changes in farming operations are analysed in the third chapter. Examining cost

components, yield and profitability in the fourth chapter assesses economic viability

of the crop. Summary of the findings of this study and suggestions for the

improvement of the paddy-farming sector in the study are given in the fifth chapter.

*

Chapter - 2

TRANSFORMATION OF PADDY FARMING SECTOR IN KUTTANAD REGION 2.1 Specific Features of Paddy Cultivation in Kuttanad

Kuttanad region which represents the low- lying lands measuring 25 kilometers east

west and 60 kilometers north south is one of the two major rice producing areas in Kerala.

The region is often termed as the rice bowl of the state. Originally it was part of the coastal

area of the Arabian Sea, which became a shallow bay due to a geological uplift. The

incessant inflow of silt carried by the rivers Meenachil, Pamba, Achencoil and Manimala

over thousands of years accumulated in this shallow bay and gradually made it an extensive

brackish water lagoon and backwater system extending from Alapuzha in the south to Kochi

in the north. In course of time the shallow parts of the lagoon further silted up by the river

systems became wet lands while the deeper parts of it still remain as backwaters11

Kuttanad region consists of 82 villages belonging to the taluks of Cherthala,

Ambalapuzha, Kuttanad, Karthigappally, Chengannur, and Mavelikkara in Alapuzha district,

16 villages belonging to the Vaikkom and Kottayam taluks in Kottayam district and 4

villages of Thiruvalla taluk in Pathanamthitta district. It covers a total area of about 110

thousand hectares of which 31 thousand hectares are dry lands, 66 thousand hectares are

wetlands and the remaining 13 thousand hectares are water areas comprising of lakes, rivers,

waterways and channels. Dry lands that lie 0.5 to 2.5 meters above the mean sea level (MSL)

are mainly located at the peripheral areas of the region. Wet lands consists of the low lying

areas slightly above the MSL and areas lying up to 2.5 meters below the MSL, which are

reclaimed from the Vembanad lake.

The soil in Kuttanad is a mixture of sand and clay in varying proportions. Generally

in most of the low lying areas the soil is highly acidic and contains toxic salts.12 Depending

on the type of soil the entire wetland area of the region can be classified into kayal lands

(13000 ha.), karappadams (33000 ha.) and kari lands (9000 ha.). Kayal lands are reclaimed

beds from Vembanad lake and are mainly located in Kuttanad and Kottayam taluks.

Karappadams are situated along the waterways and lakes mainly in the eastern and southern

11 Indo-Dutch Mission (1989): Kuttanad Water Balance Study-Main Report, Thiruvananthapuram, p. 3 12 GOK (1971): Report of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission, Thiruvananthapuram, November, p. 10

parts of Kottayam district while kari lands are situated in the taluks of Viakom, Cherthala and

Ambalapuzha.13

Compared to other paddy growing areas in Kerala, paddy cultivation in Kuttanad

region has certain unique characteristics. Paddy lands in this region are divided into

contiguous blocks called padasekharams bound by waterways, rivers and other natural

partitions. Many of such padasekharams are man made in the sense that they are reclaimed

lands from the bed of backwaters. Hence it is said that ‘while god created earth, man created

Kuttanad’14. The size of padasekharams ranges from less than one hectare to more than 1000

hectares. In this region there are 1231 padasekharams covering a total area of 59375 hectares.

As puncha crop (summer crop) is the traditional crop in Kuttanad during which

80 percent of the paddy fields are sown, from early days paddy cultivation in this region is

called puncha cropping. The season begins from October-November when the operation of

bailing out water from padasekharams starts. The other season is the virippu season (autumn

or varsha crop) in which 40 percent of the paddy lands are cultivated. Padasekharams where

the second crop is not raised are submerged under water for most part of the year. Before the

completion of the Thanneermukkom Salt water Barrier, the low lying areas in this region

were periodically inundated with saline water by the tidal inflows from the Arabian Sea.

Compared to the other rice producing areas in the state, productivity of paddy

crop is higher in Kuttanad region. Similarly, the per hectare cost of cultivation is also found

to be higher in this region. The wetland eco system of the region is helpful to the excessive

growth and spread of weeds and insects. The incidence of plant diseases and rate of crop

failures are relatively higher in this area. The high degree of human intervention in the

natural endowment of the region coupled with the indiscriminate use of pesticides and

chemical fertilizers over the past several years has caused irrevocable damage to the eco-

system of Kuttanad.

Another distinct feature of Kuttanad region is the emergence and spread of

aggressive trade unionism among the farm labourers, which brought out drastic changes in

agrarian relations. Both the farm labourers and farmers are well organized in this area. The

region had been a hotbed of several violent labour struggles starting from the so called

13 Ibid, p. 4 14 Tharamangalam J (1981): Agrarian Class Conflict – The Political Mobilisation of Agricultural Labourers in Kuttanad, S. India, University of Vancouver, p. 32

Punnapra-Vayalar agitation to the recent agitation against the conversion and filling of paddy

fields.

2.2 History of Land Reclamation

Transformation of paddy cultivation in Kuttanad region to its present form is

invariably related to the history of the reclamation of karappadams and kayal lands.

Reclamation activity involves the construction of outer walls called ring bunds

(puravarambu) around the particular portion of a shallow water body and draining the

enclosed area by bailing water out of that enclosed portion at the beginning of every crop

season. Even centuries back the process of reclamation had begun in Kuttanad. In early

reclamations small strips of land were recovered from shallow areas of backwaters and river

systems in Upper Kuttanad region. By the middle of the 19th century due to the increased

population pressure on land and the non-availability of shallow backwaters suitable for

reclamation, people turned toward the Vembanad lake.15

Till the beginning of the 19th century all the swampy uncultivated wastelands in

Travancore were considered as government (sircar) lands. In 1818 the then government

issued certain regulations allowing reclamation and cultivation of such lands. Reclamation

was encouraged by providing guarantee for the possession of such lands tax free for the first

ten years and thereafter levying very light taxes.16 The Pattom proclamation, which was

issued on June 2, 1865 conferred absolute ownership rights to the riots on the reclaimed

lands.

Three distinct stages can be identified in the reclamation of kayal lands from the

Vembanad lake.17 In the first stage it was carried out by private entrepreneurs with out any

financial support from the part of the government. In this stage reclamation and other

agricultural activities were completely under the barter system of financing in which farmers

received loans from private moneylenders like the Mancombu Brahmins in terms of paddy

and paid back their loans also in terms of paddy. 18 Financial constraints restricted large-scale

reclamations involving huge capital investments and hence the reclamation activities during

15 Pillai V R, Panikar P G K (1965) : Land Reclamations In Kerala, Asia Publishing house, Bombay, p. 13 16 Kallarackal George V (1996) : Emergence of Land as Property – The Case of Travancore, Unpublished M Phil Disertation, School of Social Sciences, Kottayam, p. 69 17 G O K (1971) : Report of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commision , Op. cit., p. 6 18 Geethadevi T V (1995) ; Integrated Pest Management in Human Ecological Perspective, Unpublished M Phil Dissertation, School of Science, Kottayam, pp. 50-51

the initial stage were largely confined to the scattered plots of shallow lands by the side of

the Vembanad lake. Only about 250 hectares of land were reclaimed during this period.

The second phase of reclamation commenced in 1888 with the government

decision to provide direct loans to riots fo r reclaiming and bringing under cultivation the

portions of Vembanad backwaters along the shore within Ambalapuzha, Changanacherry,

Kottayam, Ettumanur, Vaikkom and Cherthala taluks.19 It encouraged large number of

wealthy and influential farmers from different parts of Central Travancore to make huge

investments in reclamation. This phase of reclamation lasted till the end of 1903 when the

government considering the safety of the Cochin port interdicted further reclamation from the

Vembanad lake. Meanwhile about 2000 hectares of the bed of the lake had already been

reclaimed. Kayal lands like Venad, Attumuttathu kayal, Raja Ramapuram and Mathi kayal

were reclaimed during this period.

The third phase of reclamation of kayal lands began with the repealing of ban on

reclamation in 1912. By that time mechanized pump sets fuelled by kerosene and diesel had

become popular in Kuttanad replacing the manually operated wooden wheels (chakrams)

traditionally used for dewatering. It made the draining of vast padasekharams easier, quicker

and economical. During the period of the first world war (1914-1918) the state experienced

severe food shortage that resulted in a manifold increase in the price of paddy. The abrupt

steep hike in paddy price triggered off a mad rush for further reclamation of kayal lands.

However, the post war years witnessed a sharp fall in the price of rice. During the period

1924-25 to 1931-32, the price of paddy per standard para declined from 26 chakrams to 12

chakrams (1Re. = 28 chakrams) in Kuttanad. Showing an overall decrease of more than 50

percent.20 As the cultivation of paddy became uneconomical, farmers in kayal lands who had

invested substantial amounts of capital for reclamation either abstained from its cultivation or

reduced crop intensity by keeping their lands fallow for one, two or more years. Since the

early years of 1930’s price of paddy began to increase and reclamation efforts also picked up

momentum since 1931.

During the second world war food imports to India were disrupted. As the

domestic food production was quite insufficient to meet its requirements, a famine like

19 G O K (1971) : Report of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission, Op. cit., p. 5 20 Prakash B A (1987): Agricultural Development of Kerala from 1800 A D – A Survey of Studies , Working Paper No. 220, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, p. 22

situation emerged through out the country. Naturally food scarcity led to a sudden and

abnormal increase in the price of paddy. To control the situation government introduced the

levy system of compulsorily collecting a portion of their produce at a fixed price from paddy

farmers. These sorts of controls led to the emergence of black marketing and the large

farmers in kayal lands exploited the situation. 21 The widespread use of electric pump sets

from 1940 onwards in kayal lands further reduced dewatering costs and acted as a boost for

reclamation activities. During the early years of the 1940’s three segments of kayal lands

viz., Chithira, Marthandom and Rani were reclaimed. The attached labour system that

prevailed in Kuttanad in those days had been providing cheap and regular supply of labour

needed for reclamation activities in the Vembanad lake. By the year 1943 this system gave

way to wage labour system and henceforth reclamation efforts came to an end. During the

third phase of reclamation, which lasted for four decades more than 5000 hectares of land

were reclaimed from the Vembanad lake.

2.3 Efforts to Increase Intensity and Productivity of Paddy Crop

As the scope for extending the net area under paddy crop through reclamation had

been completely exhausted by the mid 1940’s, all the development programmes for paddy

cultivation in Kuttanad region thereafter were either aimed to improve crop intensity or to

enhance its productivity. It was rather impossible to raise a second crop in this region due to

the flood submergence during the monsoon months and saline intrusion during the summer

months. In order to tackle this problem the state government undertook three major

construction projects viz., Thottappally spillway, R Block-Holland project and

Thanneermukkom salt-water barrier during the period 1950 to 1975 as part of the Kuttanad

Development Scheme.

(i) Thottappally Spillway. Due to the accumulation of floodwaters from the river

systems in Kuttanad water level used to rise beyond manageable limits soon after the

onset of the southwest monsoon. The entire low lying areas of the region used to

remain flooded till the end of north east monsoon making it impossible to raise a

second crop during the autumn season. Detailed hydraulic surveys conducted from

the early thirties had shown that this problem could be mitigated by diverting the

floodwaters directly to the Arabian sea at the extreme south of the flood limit itself.

21 Kurup K K N (1989): Agrarian Struggles in Kerala, C B H publications, Thiruvananthapuram, p. 11

Accordingly, the construction of a spillway was started in 1951 at Thottappally

located 20 kilometers south of Alappuzha town. The maximum monthly dispatch of

floods entering the Kuttanad region during the monsoon months was estimated as

69000 cusecs and the spillway was designed to discharge more than 90 percent of it

directly to the sea. However, while designing the spillway the problem of piling up of

water due to the raising sea level during the monsoon months and the consequent

formation of sand bar on the seaward side of the spillway was not taken into

account22. Therefore after the spillway was completed in 1955, the realized capacity

of it is found to be less than one - thirds of the estimated capacity and hence fails to

serve its purpose to some extent.

(ii) R Block - Holland Project. The construction of permanent outer bunds around the R

Block kayal lands under the R Block - Holland Project that was started in 1961 is a

landmark in the history of paddy cultivation in Kuttanad. The embankments built

earlier as part of reclamation were made of mud and were not strong enough to

withstand the incessant wave action. Most of them were submersible under

floodwaters during the monsoon months. Under the R Block - Holland Scheme

permanent and non-submersible bunds that stood six feet above the MSL with a top

width of ten feet and a total length of 10.4 kilometers were erected around the R

Block kayal lands23. Later in the 1970’s the Kerala Land Development Corporation

(K L D C) initiated a Bund Improvement Scheme for the repair and strengthening of

ring bunds in kayal lands. However, the project had been dropped half way due to the

paucity of sufficient funds.

(iii) Thanneermokkom Salt Water Barrier. From the early days of reclamation

destruction of puncha crop due to the ingress of saline water had been a recurring

phenomenon in the kayal lands of Kuttanad area. Thanneermukkom Salt Water

Barrier was envisaged to mitigate the problem of saline water intrusion in to the

Kayal lands located in the south of Thanneermukkom during the summer months

when the fresh water inflow of the feeder river systems becomes weak. The project in

22 GOK (1989): Kerala State Gazetteer, Vol.III, Gazetteers Department, Thiruvanathapuram, p.8 23 GOK (1971): Report of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission, Op.cit.p.7

addition to protecting the summer crop from water salinity also aimed to facilitate a

second crop soon after the puncha season. Eventhough the construction of the Bund

had begun in 1958 it was commissioned only in 1975. The Barrier is built across the

Vembanad kayal connecting Vechoor in the east to Thanneermukkom in the south.

Every year regulators of the Bund are lowered in December to prevent the entry of

saline water in to Vemband lake and remain closed till May when the discharges from

feeder rivers improve with the pre monsoon rains. After the construction of this

Barrier it is possible to raise a second crop in most of the puncha lands.

During the early sixties a new strategy called Green Revolution was introduced in

the farm sector of the country. As part of this new strategy an Intensive Agricultural District

Programme (I A D P) was initiated in which the two major rice producing districts of

Palakkad and Alappuzha were included. The basic objective of this programme was to

combine all the essential inputs required for intensive production in to a single package.

Implementation of I A D P in Alappuzha district in which majority of the taluks in Kuttanad

region lie, led to the beginning of a new era of intensive paddy cultivation using modern

technology in this region. The participant farmers of the programme were provided with H Y

V seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and improved farm implements along with adequate

credit facilities, the use of which helped them to enhance the per hectare productivity of

paddy.

In order to takle the ever-growing menace of pests in Kuttanad padasekharams a

special project called the Operational Research Project on Integrated Rice Pest Control in

Kuttanad (O R P) was implemented in this region from 1975 to 1992. It was a joint venture

of the Kerala Agricultural University and the State Agricultural Department financed by the

ICAR. The project adopted a strategy of applying genetic, cultural and biological devices

along with the use of chemical pesticides. Pest disease surveillance and consultancy services

through agro clinics were the two major programmes under this project, which had been

successfully carried out in six selected villages in Kuttanad. Another developmental research

project initiated by the Kerala Agricultural University and successfully implemented in

Kuttanad region is the Drainage Research Project on kari soils. It aims to provide proper

drainage facilities in the marshy kari lands in North Kuttanad. The project, which was started

in 1982, is supervised by the Regional Agricultural Research Station Kumarakom, which also

coordinates the entire agricultural research activities going on in this region.

2.4 Changes in Agrarian Relations

A system of agrestic slavery had prevailed in Kuttanad region until the middle of

the nineteenth century in which landlords and riots used to possess required number of labour

households as part of their assets. Practically all of the agricultural activities were performed

by the agrestrc slaves who were either low caste Hindus like Pulaya and Paraya or Christian

converts from the low castes. These serfs had been deprived of even the basic necessaries of

life and their living conditions were deplorable. Their masters had absolute power to sell,

purchase and punish them.

2.4.1 Origin and Characteristics of Attached Labour System

The slavery Abolition Proclamation of 1855 legally prohibited the sale of slaves

and ended the system of slavery in Travancore. As the state had not taken any effective

measures for the emancipation of the hitherto serfs they were forced to remain dependent on

their former farmer masters for sustenance. The prospects of getting a permanent adode and

continuous employment encouraged them to become attached labourers. They seldom

changed their masters and continued to stay in the huts provided to them by their masters as

hutment dwellers or kudikidappukar24.

The system of attached labour was essentially a caste-based division of labour in

which the hard and dirty tasks were assigned to the low caste people (untouchables). They

were not allowed to own or lease in lands and the laws of ayitham (pollution) inhibited them

from entering into any other trade, which needed interaction with high caste people. They

were deployed to work in paddy fields at far away places from the residential holdings of

their masters. As the Ezhavas were out of the purview of ayitham and untouchability, they

were employed as casual labourer to work in garden lands around the houses of high caste

Hindus. Both socially and economically the Ezhavas were ranked above the attached

labourers25.

Every attached labour household used to get gifts during festivals like Onam,

Vishu and Karkkidaka Vavu. Similarly, whenever there was a birth, death or marriage in

24 Jose A V (1977): Trade Unionism in Kerala, Social Scientist, Vol.V, No.12, July, p.29. 25 Alex George (1987): Social and Economic Aspects of Attached Labourers in Kuttanad Agriculture, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XXII, No.52, 26 December, p. A - 148

their families the landlords or riots to whom they were attached provided financial assistance

to them. Small portion of harvested paddy was also given to them as adayam (income).

However, they were paid relatively lower rates of wages and were expected to turn up for

work whenever their masters wanted. Again, they had to work from dawn to dusk and all the

children in their households had to join for work with their adults at the age of 14. The

attached labour families were not given the ownership of the hutments in which they lived

and could be evicted if their masters decided so. The concerned landlords and tenant farmers

dictated their wage rates, work conditions, mode of payments and pattern of discipline.

2.4.2 Emergence of casual labour system

Large-scale reclamations carried out since the 1880’s in and around the

Vembanad lake and the resultant increase in area under paddy crop in Kuttanad had

necessitated a steady and regular supply of hard working and loyal class of farm labourers

and the system of attached labour served this purpose. However, the agro-climatic constraints

involved in the puncha form of cultivation restricted all the cropping activities to be carried

out to a short span of time. Thus the repair of ring bunds, dewatering, ploughing, sowing and

weeding were to be done in all the vast stretch of padasekharams almost simultaneously. As

same or similar varieties of seeds are sown in kayal lands the much labour absorbing activity

of harvesting had also to be carried out simultaneously. Due to this particular pattern of

cultivation there was huge demand for labourers during the peak season followed by no work

for a long period of time26. Even within a single crop season the demand for male female

labourers were not evenly distributed. While male labourers were largely demanded during

the early weeks of the season for activities like the repair of outer bunds, dewatering,

ploughing and sowing, female labourers were largely required at the end of the season for

harvesting the crop.

Installation of mechanized pump sets and strengthening of ring bunds using

granite along with the decline in crop intensity during the post first world war years in

Kuttanad had substantially reduced the demand for farm labourers in general and that of male

labourers in particular. Even though paddy farming activities had been reactivated during the

period of the second world war, the situation of severe food shortage and the resultant hike in

26 Mencher Joan P (1978): Agrarian Relations in Two Rice Regions of Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XIII, Nos.6, 7, February, p.350

paddy prices attracted large number of agricultural labourers from the surrounding areas to

Kuttanad during the harvest seasons. Thus the shortage of local female labourers during the

peak harvest season was off set by the inflow of migrant labourers in every year. Feudal

landlords and tenant farmers then realized that it was quite unnecessary to retain a huge

labour force permanently as attached labourers and preferred instead to use casual labourers.

The pace of transition from attached labour system to a new system of casual labour gained

momentum with the spread of trade unionism among farm labourers since the early 1940’s.

2.4.3 Spread of trade unionism and its impact on agrarian relations

By the dawn of the twentieth century Alapuzha with its flourishing coir and oil

extraction industries had become the industrial centre of the Travancore state. However,

since the beginning of the 1930’s the coir industry of the area began to show signs of

recession. Due to systematic cut in wages and retrenchments thousands of coir factory

workers became discontent and the Communist Party successfully organized trade unions

among them27. Within a few years it became the nerve centre of trade union activities in the

state. Most of the coir factory workers had been recruited from impoverished agricultural

labour families of the adjoining villages. Whenever there was a strike or lockout in their

factories these workers used to go back to their own villages to work in paddy fields. Their

interaction with other workers resulted in the rapid spread of communist ideology among the

paddy farm labourers28.

The first agricultural labour union in the state called the Thiruvithamkoor Karshaka

Thozhilali Union (T K T U) was formed in 1940 under the auspices of the Communist Party

of India(C P I). In the initial stage of its formation low caste attached farm labourers were

reluctant to join the union, as they were very much loyal to the landlords and tenant farmers

under whom they worked. The situation changed during the second world war period when

the government introduced a system of food rationing in which food articles had been

distributed to ration cardholders at subsidized rates. Along with paddy farmers farm

labourers were also denied ration cards on the ground that they received their wages in terms

of paddy. Farmers on the other hand tried to take advantage of the abnormal hike in the price

of paddy and insisted cash payments to the workers. The resultant plight of farm labourers

27 Jose A V (1977); Op.cit. P.34 28 Alexander K C (1973): Emerging Farmer Labour Relations in Kuttanad, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. VII, No.14, 25 August, pp.1552 - 56

accelerated the pace of unionization and a series of organized farm labour struggles broke

out. The first among them was the violent Punnapra - Vayalar Agitation of 1946. Thus the

agrarian relationship in Kuttanad transformed from a caste relationship to a class

relationship and the system of attached labour was replaced by a new system of wage labour

in which workers were free to work under any farmer.

Since their formation agricultural labour unions had been demanding for periodic

revisions in wages. After considering their representations the government appointed the

Minimum wages Committee for Employment in Agriculture in 1953, which submitted its

report after three years. Findings of the Committee were referred to the Minimum Wages

Advisory Board and as suggested by the Board a tripatriate body called the Kuttanad

Industrial Relations Committee consisting of the representatives of farmers, labour unions

and government nominees was set up in 1957 for the settlement of labour disputes29. Prior to

the formation of the first Communist ministry in Kerala, state authorities had been following

a policy of police interventions in case of law breaches in the labour struggles in Kuttanad

area. Contrary to this policy the Communist government adopted a new policy of non

interference in labour disputes and thus encouraged the trade unions to achieve their goals by

might and main. The functioning of the Kuttanad Industrial Relations Committee was not

very effective until the first Communist ministry was dismissed in 1960 as the outcome of a

mass uprising called Liberation Movement (Vimochana Samaram) engineered and executed

mainly by the landed gentry of the Central Travancore. However, The Committee continued

till 1961 when the Industrial Relations Committee (IRC) replaced it for Kuttanad.

Most of the earlier leaders of the labour movements in Travancore were either

caste Hindus or Syrian Christians and their relatives were farmers. But after the split of the

Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1964 most of the labour unions came under the control of

CPI (M) and union leadership shifted from upper caste leaders to lower caste and

economically poor comrades. Compared to the parent organization CPI (M) had a more

radical approach and the goal of the Party in its trade union front was “the creation of highly

polically oriented and committed set of workers bent on destroying capitalism amd its

plenipotentiaries at the village level, the farmers”30. When a coalition government led by C P

29 GOK (1971): Report of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission, Op.cit. p.23. 30 Quoted in Alexander K C (1973): Op. Cit., p.1558

I (M) came to power in the state in 1967, IRC and similar bodies set up for the mediation of

industrial disputes were looked upon with suspecion and were treated as “class weapons to

currupt, disorganise and to cheat the working class and our business is to see that they do not

succeed”31.

In order to face the demands of labour unions collectively and to bring their

grievances before the concerned authorities, farmers of Kuttanad also formed their own

unions. Akhila Kuttanad Karshaka Sangam, Kuttanad Karshaka Sangam, Karinila Karshaka

Sangam, Desseeya Karshaka Sangam and North Kuttanad Agriculturists Association are

some of such farmers’ organizations. Initially the farmer’s organizations resorted to peaceful

means to protect their interests, but later they also adopted violent measures to counter the

militant labour union agitations.

2.4.4 Land reforms and agrarian relations

Prior to the formation of Kerala State by unifying the erstwhile princely states of

Travancore and Cochin with the British ruled Malabar district of Madras Province in 1956,

Kuttanad was part of the state of Travancore. Compared to Malabar and Cochin, land tenure

legislations in Travancore had been more radical32. When Marthanda Varma acceded to the

throne of Travancore in 1729, the king’s authority was so nominal that the Ettuveettil

Pillamar and the Madampimar were more or less independent rulers of their own estates.

Marthanda Varma successfully defeated those chieftens and in the process of the conquests

the state asserted its sovereignty by annexing the territories belonging to the chieftens and

converted almost all of such lands into state owned lands. By the close of the 18th century the

annexations were completed and nearly half of the total cultivated land in Travancore came

under the state ownership.

During the early decades of the nineteenth century most of the arable lands in

Kuttanad were held by Brahmin families (Brahmaswoms), temple authorities (Devaswoms)

and a few Nair chief tens (Madampimar). They leased out a major portion of the land in their

possessions to ryots belonging to upper caste Hindu and Syrian Christian Communities. A

royal edict promulgated in 1829 stated that the tenant should pay the jenmi (land owner) his

usual dues and as long as the dues are paid, “the tenant remains in possession and enjoyment

31 C P I (M) Central Committee Resolution (1968): Tasks on the Trade Union Front, p.47. 32 Oommen T K (1975): Agrarian Legislations and Movements as Sources of change –The case of Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.X, No.40, 4 October, p.1571.

of the property”. Usually such tenant holdings exceeded ten acres and the large size of

holdings made the ryots very powerful33. Large scale reclamations of kayal lands carried out

by the wealthy and influential farmers of North Travancore during the second and third

phases of redamation led to the emergence of a new class of landed gentry called kayal

rajakkanmar (kayal kings) who possessed thousands of acres of paddy lands in Kuttanad.

Some of the ryots used to sublease small portions of their lands to Ezhavas.

From its early days the Communist Party of India had clamoured for the transfer

of ownership rights of land from feudal landlords to the tillers of the soil. Through

systematically organized study classes, the Party upheld the need of a working class

revolution as a panacea for the prevalent social and economic inequalities. Eventhough the

concepts of dialectical materialism and materialistic interpretation of history were not

comprehensible to a vast majority of the ignorant farm labourers who used to attend such

study classes, the literary works of the leftist writers which invariably depicted industrialists

and land lords as exploitors and class enemies, had inculcated among them the prospects of

establishing an egalitarian society through class struggles. The popular verses of the 1940’s

and 1950’s like “Nammalu koyyum vayalellam, nammudethakum painkiliye” (All the fields

that we reap, o’parrot, will be ours) inspired thousands of farm labourers all over the state.

Naturally when the party came to power in Kerala sincere efforts were made to introduce

radical land reforms in the state. Accordingly, the Agrarian Relations Bill, which is often

described as the most comprehensive land reforms in the Indian States, was introduced in the

State Assembly in 1959. The Congress government that came to power after the dismissal of

the Communist ministry in 1960 enacted the Bill34. The Kerala Land Reforms Act (KLRA)

of 1964 that superseded the Agrarian Relations Act, granted hutment dwellers the right to

own their dwelling houses and a few cents of land around it. Most of the beneficiaries of this

Act were either the agrestic slaves of the feudal days or agricultural labourers. With the

implementation of the Act nearly 3 lakh hutment dwellers became owners of small plots up

to the extent of 10 cents.

Due to the persistent increase in the inequality of land distribution in Travancore,

the proportion of households cultivating less than one acre rose from 38 percent to 52 percent

33 Alex George (1987): Op.cit. p.A -141 34 Oommen M A (1994): Land Reforms and Economic change Experience and Lesson from Kerala, in B A Prakash (ed-), Kerala’s Economy, Sage Publications, New Delhi, p.123

during the period 1931 to 1966 - 6735. At the state level in the year 1970 - 71, 81.8 percent of

the holdings were below one hectare and their total area amounted only 31 percent of the

total cultivated area. In order to attain a more equitable distribution of operational holdings in

the state, the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act was introduced in 1969. The two major

objectives of the Act, which was enforced from 1st January, 1970 were (i) the total abolition

of tenancy and (ii) the possession and redistribution of surplus lands among landless

peasants. The Act achieved its first objective by conferring ownership rights to all types of

tenants. However, with regard to the acquisition and redistribution of surplus lands it was a

failure to a great extent. The long time gap between the ceiling proposal (1957) and its

implementation (1970) gave enough time to land lords who had surplus lands beyond the

prescribed limits to avoid its surrender through real and bogus transfers. Excemption granted

to areas under plantation crops was another flaw of the Act. Similarly, concessions given to

the landed properties of religious and charitable institutions were widely misused. Many

farmers successfully evaded the seizure of their lands through litigation. Creation of spurious

tenancies with or without the connivance of bureaucrats also defeated the very purpose of the

Act to some extent. Again, as the concept of personal cultivation, which meant the

participation in agricultural activities with physical involvement, was diluted to include

supervision also, many absentee landowners engaged in other occupations managed to retain

their holdings. Even CPI (M) has deviated from its original slogan of land to the tiller by

upholding the right of absentee landowners and people engaged in other occupations to

possess cultivating lands. The Party’s Central Committee Resolution on Agrarian Issues

(1973) states that, “the lands of small holders owing less than half of the ceiling but elking

their livelihood in factories, small shops, schools, …. or in any other profession, even if they

are not cultivating their lands shall not be taken” 36.

The extent of land declared surplus in the state as on 30-11-1988 was 160099

acres. Out of this, only 91,562 acres (57.19 percent) had been taken possession of by the

government. As on 30-11-2000, 66984 acres of surplus land have been distributed among

157841 families that amount to only 41.84 percent of the declared surplus. Till that date a

35 Krishnaji N (1979): Agrarian Relations and the Left Movement in Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XIV, No.9, 3 March, p.516 36 lbid, p.519

total of 4543 acres of land had been distributed to 8434 families in Alapuzha district37. It

includes 1959 acres of kayal lands reclaimed by Muricken, which was declared surplus and

distributed among landless farm labourers in 1975.

2.4.5 Re-emergence of tenancy and present labour status

The Land Reforms (Amendment) Act of 1970 had successfully abolished the age-

old system of tenancy in Kerala by providing ownership rights to the tenant cultivators.

However, since the beginning of the 1980’s the system had made its reappearance in the low

lands of Kuttanad with certain alterations. A study conducted by E K Easwaran in Nedumudi

panchayat of Kuttanad taluk during the year 1985 shows that 11 percent of the paddy land

owners in that area used to lease out their land. While more than half of the lessors own five

or more acres of land, 87 percent of the lessees possess only less than one acre of land 38. The

present survey shows that more than 21 percent of paddy farmers in Ramakari village lease

in paddy lands and area of such leased in lands amounts to 20 percent of the total area under

the crop. It is found that more than half of the lessors are marginal or small farmers with less

than one hectare of land and the practice of leasing paddy lands is independent of the size of

holdings.

Over the last few years agricultural labourers in Kuttanad have acquired a

multiple status. With the implementation land reforms many of them had received plots of

surplus lands their size not exceeding one acre. Some of them lease in additional land for

personal cultivation, some others lease out their land and the rest of them sow in their newly

acquired land and indulge in other activities during the non-farming seasons. The distinction

between paddy farm workers, marginal farmers, inland fishermen, construction workers and

casual labourers has narrowed down in the rural areas of Kuttanad as the very same person

performs all these activities in different times. Eventhough the IRC for Kuttanad had upheld

the freedom of farmers to fix the numbers of workers and their right to select those whom

they prefer, at present the cultivators prerogative to choose specific workers is very much

limited. Wages of farm labourers are periodically revised by trade unions with out even

consulting the farmers. Agricultural activities like ploughing, sowing, manuring and spraying

insecticides are done by work groups with strong political backing. Most of the farming

37 GOK (2001): Economic Review 2000 , SPB, Thiruvananthapuram, table 10.4, p.179 38 Easwaran K K (19794): Keralathil Veendum Patta Vyavastha - Oru Grameena Patanam (Mal.), (Re- emergence of Tenancy in Kerala - A Village Study), Kerala Patangal , January – March, p.482

operations are carried out according to the convenience of labourers and not in accordance

with the dictates of natural factors and agronomic practices39. The traditional paddy farmers

in Kuttanad who had once controlled the main opportunities of work by agricultural

labourers and whose strength had once grown in almost direct proportion to the growth of the

militancy of agricultural labourers40 have now become a dejected lot. While some of them try

to reconcile with the already changed situation, others are turning to other occupations giving

up paddy farming.

* *

39 Thomas Joseph A, Thomas T A (1999): Reaping Before Sowing – Agrarian Relations in Kuttanad , in B A Prakash (ed.), Kerala’s Economic Development, Sage Publications, New Delhi, p.215 40 Mencher Joan P (1980): Lessons and Non Lessons of Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XV, Nos. 41 – 42, October, p.1785.

Chapter - 3

PADDY CULTIVATION IN RAMANKARI VILLAGE

This chapter is divided into tree parts. Salient features of the study area and its

population are given in the first part. The socio-economic backgrounds of the local

farmers are given in the second part and the changes in major agricultural activities

related to paddy cultivation in the study area are described in the third part.

3.1 Study Area - Some General Observations 3.1.1 Location and area

Ramankari village that is selected as the area of the present study falls in the kayal

zone of Kuttanad region. It belongs to Veliyanad block of Kuttanad taluk. The village

contains all of the ten wards of Ramankari panchayat except the wards 6,7 and a small

portion of 8. The village is nearly triangular in shape. The river Pamba that is one of the four

major feeder rivers in Kuttanad acts as the natural boundary of the village in the northeast

separating it from the nearby village of Veliyanad. Champakulam and Edathua villages are

situated respectively in the west and north of the study area. From Kidangara Bridge in the

east to Pallikkoottumma Bridge in the west, 4.2 kilometers of the Changanassery-Alapuzha

main road passes through this village. Important localities in the village are Pallikkottumma,

Manalady, Ramankari, Mampuzhakari, Settlement Colony, Oorikari and Vezhapra. The

study area is purely a rural area with out any hospitals with modern facilities, affiliated

colleges, technical institutions, business centres or large scale industrial units.

As per the revenue records, Ramankari village covers a total area of 1147.51

hectares out of which 845.73 hectares (73.70 percent) are wet lands, 246.36 hectares

(21.47 percent) are dry lands and the remaining 55.42 hectares (4.83 percent) are

uncultivable waste lands or water bodies. Every year during the monsoon months, the

entire village is submerged under floodwater for two or more weeks. Compared to kayal

lands in and around the Vembanad Lake, the wetlands in most part of the village are

shallower. Even though, the recently introduced rice-fish crop rotation had been

attempted by a few individual farmers, the new system has not yet become popular and

paddy remains to be the only crop raised in almost all of the padasekharams in the study

area. Coconut is the major garden crop cultivated in dry lands of this area. Banana and

other plantains, vegetables, pulses and tubers are also cultivated in dry lands in a limited

scale. The dry lands in the study area are thickly populated and density of population is

found to be 38 per hectare.

3.1.2 Demographic particulars

According to 1991 census reports, there were 2118 occupied residential houses

and 2138 households in Ramankari village with a total population of 11189. Unlike the

state level, male persons (5635) out numbered the female persons (5554) and the sex ratio

stood at 986. Average size of households during the reference period was 5.23. By the

year 1998, number of households in the village increased to 2192. Based on the survey

conducted in Ramankari during the year 2000, the estimated population in the village is

11965 consisting of 5816 male persons and the estimated sex ratio is found as 997. More

than 13 percent of the local populations are 60 or more years old and the percentage of

children below 15 years old is found to be 22.29. Dependency rate of the village

population is estimated as 35.45 percent. An estimated number of 3276 women are in the

age group of 15-49. The General Fertility Rate (GFR) and the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) of

the local population are calculated as 56.5 and 15.6 respectively. Age wise distribution of

population from 750 households covered in the pilot survey is given in table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Age wise Distribution of Persons in Sample Households.

Age Male Female Total Less than 1 30(0.75) 32(0.81) 62(1.56) 1 – 14 430(10.82) 394(9.91) 824(2.73) 15 – 49 1126(28.33) 1121(28.21) 2247(56.54) 50 – 59 161(4.05) 157(3.95) 318(8.00) 60 and above 243(6.11) 280(7.05) 523(13.16) Total 1990(50.08) 1984(49.92) 3924(100.00)

Source: Pilot Survey conducted in 2000 covering 750 households

Note: Percentage to total population are given in parantheses

3.1.3 Literacy rate and education status

The literacy rate in Kuttanad taluk as per the 1991 census was 86.91 percent.

Compared to the rate of literacy of female persons, which was estimated as 86.23 percent, the

male literacy rate, estimated as 87.61 percent, had been higher. Present study shows that 89

percent of the people in Ramankari village are literates. Rates of literacy among male and

female persons are separately calculated as 89.85 percent and 88.16 percent respectively. The

effective rate of literacy, calculated after excluding children below 7 years old, of the village

population is found to be 96.43 percent. At present there are 49 male and ---female illiterate

persons in the sample households and their effective literacy rates are estimated as 97.24

percent and 95.63 percent respectively. Even though, adult education programmes were

carried out in some parts of the village they were not very effective. It is observed that a vast

majority of illiterates in the study area belong to scheduled castes.

In spite of the high rate of literacy, it is observed that only 28 percent of the

people in the study area have successfully completed their school education. About 17

percent of the local people are either school dropouts at the lower primary level itself or

students of that level. Even though more than one-fourths of the local people have

successfully completed their high school studies only less than 4 percent of them are degree

holders in any stream. The parents while sending their children for higher education show

some degree of bias infavour of the stronger sex. It is evident from the fact that while 13.31

percent of the male population in the study area is having education qualifications equivalent

to pre degree or above, only 11.34 percent of the female population is having the same

education status. Table 3.2 shows the education status of the members of households

included in the pilot survey.

Table 3.2 Distribution of Village Population on the Basis of Their Education

Status Number of Persons

Education Status Male Female Total Illiterate 202(10.15) 235(11.84) 437(11.00) 1 – IV 325(16.33) 340(17.14) 665(16.73)

V – VII 405(20.35) 407(20.51) 812(20.43) VII – X 465(23.37) 471(23.74) 936(23.55)

SSLC (Pass) 328(16.48) 306(15.42) 634(15.95) PD, XII, Diploma 86(4.32) 72(3.63) 158(3.98)

Total 1990(100.00) 1984(100.00) 3974(100.00) Note: Percentages are given in brackets. 3.1.4 Activity status and occupation

Out of a total number of 3974 persons from the 750 households covered in our

pilot survey, 2565 persons (1287 male and 1278 female persons) fall in the age group 15-59.

It is found that 171 male persons and 816 female persons are voluntarily unemployed in the

sense that they are neither seeking nor available for remunerative work. The total work force

consists of 1578 persons out of which 259 persons (16.41 percent) are unemployed.

Compared to the male labour force whose rate of unemployment is estimated as 10.57

percent, the rate of unemployment among the female labour force, which is found to be

30.52, is significantly higher. Work participation rate of the local population is estimated to

be 33.19 percent during the period of the present survey. Relevant figures are given in table

3.3.

Table 3.3

Employment Status of Village Population

Number of Persons Activity Status Male Female Total 1. Employed 998 321 1319 2. Unemployed 118 141 259 3. Total labour force (1+2) 1116 462 1578 4. Voluntary unemployment 171 816 987 5. Unemployed as% of labour force 10.57 30.52 16.41 6. Work participation rate 50.15 16.18 33.19

The 1991 census had shown that 57.18 percent of the main workers were

agricultural labourers and another 11.13 percent of them were cultivators in Kuttanad taluk.

The present survey reveals that about 30 percent of the employed persons are agricultural

labourers and another 8 percent of them are paddy farmers in the study area. Taken together,

agricultural activity, mainly paddy farming, providers direct employment to 38.51 percent of

the working population in Ramankari village. While nearly 20 percent of the employed

persons are regular salaried employees in private firms and establishments both inside and

outside the state, 7.58 percent of them are government employees or workers in government

aided institutions. Skilled labourers like independent tailors, electricians, mechanics, toddy

tappers, plumbers, drivers of own vehicles, sand miners etc., are included in the category of

self employed persons who constitute the third largest category of workers. Occupation wise

distribution of employed persons is given in table 3.4

Table 3.4

Occupation-wise Distribution of Employed Persons in Ramankari Village

Occupation No. of Persons Percentage Farmer 109 8.26 Agricultural labour 399 30.25 Casual labour 157 11.90 Business and trade 84 6.37 Regular private service 257 19.48 Regular govt.service 100 7.58 Inland fishing 34 2.58 Self employment 179 13.57 Total 1319 100.00 3.1.5 Distribution of owned land area

Even though the Kerala Land Reforms Act of 1964 made the then landless

hutment dwellers all over the state owners of their huts and small plots of land around them,

the present survey shows that still a small percentage (0.67 percent) of the households in

Ramankari village do not have their own houses or any land property. In recent years many

of the local house holds who used to live in small thatched huts were able to rebuild or

modify their houses with tiled roof making use of subsidies and housing loans provided to

them under the various schemes of the state government and local bodies. At present 83.07

percent of the houses in the study area are tiled and another 7.73 percent are concrete

buildings. The remaining 9.2 percent of the houses remains as thatched huts.

As mentioned above, more than 99 percent of the households in the study area are

owners of dry lands. Average size of their dry lands is estimated as 25.21 cents. Wide

disparities are observed in the distribution of dry land holdings among the households.

While the top 9 percent of them have 50 or more cents of dry land area, the area owned

by the bottom 48 percent are less than 10 cents. Even though nearly three-fourths of the

total area in Ramankari village is wetlands, about two-thirds of the local households do

not own any wetlands. Average size of wetland holdings of the remaining households is

estimated as 181.66 cents. Distribution of village households on the basis of their owned

land area is given in table 3.5 which shows the extent of the prevailing inequality in the

distribution of land holdings. It is observed that, while the bottom 40 percent of the

households in the study area are either landless or own less than ten cents of land, the

owned land area of the top 24.27 percent amounts to one or more acres.

Table 3.5

Distribution of Village Households on the Basis of Owned Land Area

Number of households Area (in cents) Dry land Wet land Total

Nil 5(0.67) 493(65.73) 5(0.67) Less than 5 115(15.33) ---------- 101(13.47)

5 – 10 243(32.40) ---------- 194(25.87) 10 – 25 235(31.33) 5(0.67) 128(17.07) 25 – 50 87(11.60) 32(4.27) 59(7.87)

50 – 100 35(4.67) 62(8.27) 81(10.80) 100 – 250 25(3.33) 109(14.53) 119(15.87) 250 – 500 3(0.40) 37(4.93) 45(6.00)

500 and above 2(0.27) 12(1.60) 18(2.40) Total 750(100.00) 750(100.00) 750(100.00)

3.2 Socio-Economic Background of Paddy Farmers

On the basis of their owned paddy cultivating lands, farmers in the study area can

be classified into marginal farmers with less than 100 cents small farmers with 100 to 250

cents, medium farmers with 250 to 500 cents and large farmers with more than 500 cents.

Out of the 750 households covered in our pilot survey, 257 households own paddy lands

with varying sizes within a wide range of 20 to 1500 cents. Among the owners of paddy

fields 99 households own less than one acre, 109 households own 1 to 2.5 acres, 37

households own 2.5 to 5 acres and 12 households own more than 5 acres of wet lands.

After excluding those households, which had leased out their entire paddy fields during

the last crop season, we selected 90 households by taking 30 percent each of the marginal

and small farmers, 40 percent of medium farmers and cent percent of large farmers. Thus

the selected sample consists of 30 marginal farmers, 33 small farmers, 15 medium

farmers and 12 large farmers.

3.2.1 Religion and community wise distribution of sample households

Hinduism and Christianity are the two dominant religions in Ramankari village

and all of the sample paddy farmers in the study area are either Hindus or Christians. The

percentages of Christian and Hindu farmer households are found to be 52.2 and 47.8

respectively. While more than three-fourth of the marginal farmers have Hinduism as their

household religion, cent percent of the sample large farmers are Christians. Number of small

farmer households belonging to the above two religions are found to be more or less equal. A

Community wise split up of the sample farmers shows that more than half of them are Syrian

Christians, one-third are Ezhavas and 7.78 percent are Nairs. Percentage of Scheduled Caste

farmers is found to be 6.67 and all them are marginal farmers. They had obtained paddy

lands through the redistribution of surplus lands. As the Christian converts from Scheduled

Castes had lost their caste identity, they were not given any portion of the redistributed

surplus paddy lands. Community wise distribution of sample households is given in table 3.6

.

Table 3.6 Community wise Distribution of Sample Households

Number of households

Community Marginal Small Medium Large Total

Syrian Christian 6(20.0) 17(51.5) 11(73.3) 12(100.0) 46(51.1) Nair 4(13.3) 2(6.1) 1(6.7) -- 7(7.8) Ezhava 13(43.3) 14(42.4) 3(20.0) -- 30(33.3) Scheduled caste 6(20.0) -- -- -- 6(6.7) Pentacost 1(3.3) -- -- -- 1(1.1) Total 30(100.0) 33(100.0) 15(100.0) 12(100.0) 90(100.0)

Note: Percentages are given in brackets

3.2.2 Households size and age composition

Compared to the entire households in Ramankari village, the average size of

sample households, which is estimated as 5.48, is relatively higher. Again, unlike the whole

village population, female persons out number their male counterparts in farmer households

and the sex ratio is found to be 1046. More than 16 percent of the sample household

members are old people of 60 or more year’s age and 24 percent are children below 15 years

old. The dependency load of the concerned population is estimated as 40.2 percent. There are

122 women in the age group 15-49 and the reported live births in the sample households

during the reference year stood at 9. The CBR and GFR of the sample households are

estimated as 18 and 50.62 respectively. Age wise distribution of the members of sample

households is given in table 3.7.

Table 3.7

Age wise Distribution of Sample Household Members

Number of persons Age Male Female Total

Less than 1 4(0.81) 5(1.01) 9(1.83) 1 – 14 57(11.56) 52(10.55) 109(22.11) 15 – 49 122(24.75) 119(24.14) 241(48.88) 50 – 59 25(5.07) 29(5.88) 54(10.95)

60 and above 33(6.69) 47(9.53) 80(16.23) Total 241(48.88) 252(51.12) 493(100.00)

Note: Percentage to total population is given in brackets

3.2.3 Literacy and education status

Out of the total number of 493 persons from the sample farmer households in

Ramankari village 53 persons are found to be illiterate and the rate of literacy is estimated as

89.25 percent. There are only 8 adult illiterates and effective literacy rate among the

members of sample households is as high as 98.18 percent. It is to be noted that among the

medium and large farmer households all persons above 7 years old are literate. Taking all the

four categories of households together it is observed that 35.09 percent of the members had

successfully completed their high school studies and 8.52 percent of them are graduates.

Compared to the entire village population, education status of farmer household members is

much better. In spite of it the percentage of persons from marginal households who have

education qualifications equal to SSLC or above which is found to be 29.24 percent is

substantially lower than those of small, medium and large farmer households estimated

respectively as 36.42 percent, 37.35 percent and 43.94 percent. Education status of sample

household members is given in table 3.8.

Table 3.8

Education status of Sample Household Members

Number of persons Education status Marginal Small Medium Large Total

Illiterate 18(10.5) 20(11.6) 9(10.8) 6(9.1) 53(10.8) Primary 44(25.7) 39(22.5) 12(14.5) 9(13.6) 104(21.1) Secondary 59(34.5) 51(29.5) 31(37.3) 22(33.3) 163(33.1) SSLC, PDC 43(25.1) 49(28.3) 21(25.3) 18(27.3) 131(26.5) Degree 7(4.1) 14(8.1) 10(12.0) 11(16.7) 42(8.5) Total 171(100.0) 173(100.0) 83(100.0) 66(100.0) 493(100.0) Note: Percentages are given in brackets

It is also observed that out of the 90 sample paddy farmers 27 persons have passed SSLC and

5 among them are graduates. From the remaining 63 farmers, 46 farmers are school dropouts

at the high school level and 17 farmers had discontinued their formal education at the

primary level itself.

3.2.4 Employment status and occupation

Rate of unemployment is found to be comparatively higher among the farmer

households in the study area. Out of a total workforce of 188 persons from the sample

households, 32 persons are unemployed and 156 persons are employed. Number of

voluntarily unemployed persons in the age group of 15 to 60 is found to be 107, which

amounts to 36.27 percent of the total number of persons in this age group. It includes

students, housewives and physically handicapped and mentally invalid persons. Rate of

unemployment among the total work force is estimated as 17.89 percent. Compared to the

marginal and large farmer households, the problem of unemployment is more severe in small

and medium farmer households. Labour force status of the four categories of sample

households is given in table 3.9

Table 3.9

Activity Status of Sample Household members

Employment status Marginal Small Medium Large Total

1.Employed 60 51 25 20 156

2.Unemployed 10 13 7 2 32

3.Work force (1+2) 70 64 32 22 188

4.Voluntarily unemployed 43 37 16 14 110

5. Unemployed as% of work force 14.29 20.31 21.88 10.5 17.89

6. Work participation rate 35.09 29.48 30.12 30.30 31.64

Paddy cultivation is the main economic activity for nearly one-third of the 156

employed persons from the sample households while nearly two percent of them are paddy

cum fish farmers. It is also found than 30 persons (19.23 percent) from the farmer households

are regular salaried employees and two-thirds of them are working in private establishments.

Another 16.67 percent of the employed persons are paddy farm labourers. Compared to other

categories, the proportion of agricultural labourers in marginal paddy land owning

households is much higher. Again, the number of self-employed persons, which includes

businessmen and traders, amounts to 17.31 percent of the total number of employed persons.

Occupation-wise distribution of employed persons from sample households is given in table

3.10.

Table 3.10

Occupation wise Distribution of Persons from Farmer Households

Number of persons Occupation

Marginal Small Medium Large Total

Cultivators 11(18.33) 19(37.25) 12(48.00) 12(60.00) 54(34.62)

Fish farming 1(1.67) 1(1.96) 1(4.00) -- 3(1.92)

Agricultural labour 22(36.67) 3(5.88) 1(4.00) -- 26(16.67)

Self employed 5(8.33) 13(25.49) 7(28.00) 2(10.00) 27(17.31)

Employees in private

firms

6(10.00) 5(9.80) 3(12.00) 6(30.00) 20(12.82)

Govt servants 3(5.00) 7(13.73) -- -- 10(6.41)

Casual labour 12(20.00) 3(5.88) 1(4.00) -- 16(10.26)

Total 60(100.00) 51(100.00) 25(100.00) 20(100.00) 156(100.00)

Note: Percentages are given in brackets

3.2.5 Land assets and household debt

For most of the sample households land property is their major asset. In addition

to wetlands all of them have owned dry lands. On an average a marginal farmer household in

the study area possesses 85.34 cents of land of which 74.47 cents are wetlands. Meanwhile

an average small farmer household owns 211.54 cents of land out of which 174.48 cents are

wetlands. In the case of medium and large farmers the respective figures are estimated as

450.34 cents and 371.67 cents. Total land area owned by an average large farmer household

is found to be 1087.2 cents, which is nearly 13 times greater than that of a marginal farmer’s

possession. Again, it is observed that an average large farmer owns 815 cents of paddy lands.

Present survey reveals that 60 percent of the farmer households in the study area

bear the burden of debt. Contrary to the popular belief, it is found that the incidence of

indebtedness is more severe among large farmer households compared to marginal and small

farmer households. While 74 percent of the large farmers are debtors only 46.7 percent of the

marginal farmers have prevailing debts. The total existing debt of the 90 sample households

at the date of the survey amounted to Rs 4.64 lakhs and their per capita debt is worked out as

Rs. 941. It is observed that the average debt of the debtor households in the large farmer

category, which is found to be Rs. 15333, is more than three times higher than that of the

marginal farmer households. However, this does not imply that the marginal farmers are

financially better placed but only shows that the creditworthiness of large farmers are

relatively much higher so that they can avail more loans from financial institutions and

private individuals. The current debt position of the sample households is shown in table 3.11

Table 3.11

Debt Position of Sample Farmer Households

Type of farmers No. of debtors Total debt Average debt

Marginal 14 (46.67) 65400 4671

Small 20 (60.61) 143500 7175

Medium 11(73.33) 117000 10636

Large 9 (75.00) 138000 15333

Total 54(60.00) 463900 8591

Note: Percentages to total in each category are given in brackets

3.2.6 Political leaning of sample farmers

The left political parties always supporting the paddy farm labour movements in

Kuttanad had a retorting effect of driving farmers towards right parties. During the year 1965

when K M George along with leaders like, R Balakrishna Pillai and K R Saraswathyamma

parted ways with the then congress chief minister R Sankar and formed a separate regional

party called Kerala Congress, the new political out fit had the whole hearted support of the

Central Travancore farmer’s lobby. The Syrian Christian and Nair leadership of the new

party could wield its influence among the rank and file of the two communities. At that time

a major portion of the wetlands in Ramankari village was in the possession of the large

farmers who belonged to any one of the above two communities. The Kuttanad Karshaka

Sangam which was led by the late Kerala Congress leader E John Jacob turned out to be a

vibrant organization to uphold the interests of paddy farmers and acted as a solid forum to

counter the growing militancy among farm labour unions. The reign of kayal rajakkanmar

(Kings) ended in the study area with the implementation of the Kerala Land Reforms

(Amendment) Act in 1970, which contained provisions for the take over of surplus paddy

lands from landowners. Even though, in course of time the vigour of paddy farmers

organizations supported by right political parties had lost and many of them have become

dormant, a vast majority of the medium and large farmers in the study area are still

supporters of right parties like Indian National Congress and Kerala Congress. However, 50

percent of the marginal farmers and more than one-third of the small farmers who had

revealed their allegiance to political parties are supporters of left parties like CPI (M) and

CPI. One- third of the 90 respondents we had interviewed as part of the present study

declined to disclose their political affinity. Table 3.12 shows the political inclination of

sample farmers in the study area.

Table 3.12

Political Leaning of Sample Paddy Farmers

Political Party Marginal Small Medium Large Total

CPI(M) 11(36.7) 6(18.2) 1(8.3) 18(20.00)

CPI 2(6.7) 1(3.0) 3(3.3)

INC 10(33.3) 11(33.3) 5(33.3) 3(25.0) 29(32.2)

KCJ 3(10.0) 1(3.0) 2(13.3) 4(33.3) 10(11.1)

Not revealed 4(13.3) 14(42.4) 8(53.3) 4(33.3) 30(33.3)

Total 30(100.0) 33(100.0) 15(100.0) 12(100.0) 90(100.0)

Note: Percentages are given in parentheses

3.3 Changes in Farming Practices in Ramankari Village

By the dawn of the nineteenth century most of the arable lands in the study area

were owned by the Mancombu Numboothiris (Brahmins) who had gained it from the king as

tax exempted lands (karamozhivu bhoomi). These landowners gave out most of their lands to

certain Nair and Syrian Christian families on lease. In those days paddy cultivation was

profitable and gradually the lessors became rich enough to purchase the leased in lands. In

course of time most of the paddy growing lands in Ramankari village came under the

ownership of a few rich landlords. After retaining a portion of the fields for self-cultivation

these landlords used to lease out their paddy lands to other tenants. Each landlord had a

supervisor called krishikaran to conduct the day today farm affairs. He was a regular

employee of the landlord who was given 30 paras of paddy as monthly wages. Usually the

krishikaran was very loyal to his landlord and was treated as a household member of the

latter. In addition to the regular wages he was given other benefits like free meals and free

straw as fodder to his cattle. The strenuous paddy farm works were done by agrestic slaves

who belonged to the low caste Pulaya community under the leadership of a head worker

called thalapulayan. Every year the landlords used to give some money or paddy as advances

to their workers during the Onam season and the workers who received such advance

payments were called onapanikar. They had to work under the landlords as bonded

labourers. Practically these agrestic slaves were deprived of education and other human

rights and they were so meek that they seldom looked at the face of their master

(yajamanan).

In order to meet the cultivation costs, local farmers used to take loans from

Maancombu Pattars (Tamil Brahmins) who had migrated to Travancore from Tamilnadu to

perform poojas and other rites in temples. The payment and repayment of loans were in

terms of paddy and the rate of interest varied from 10 to 25 percent. For giving out loans and

receiving it back different measures were used the defacto rate of interest often amounted to

50 percent. For the first time default in paying back the debt farmers had to pledge their land

ownership documents as panayadharam to the Pattars. If they failed to give back the loans

for a second time in succession, then the lenders were entitled to cultivate or lease out the

pledged lands until all dues were cleared. In many instances unable to repay their debts

farmers had to forfeit their lands by giving the permanent documents (theeradharam) to the

moneylenders. Usually the moneylenders sold the thus appropriated lands to other farmers.

During the year 1942 (M E 1117) the then Travancore Divan C P Ramaswami Iyer imposed

agricultural income tax on moneylenders and gradually the barter system of lending came to

an end.

Until the beginning of the second world war paddy lands in the study area had

been sown once in two or three years. Houses of landlords were situated in patches of

elevated dry lands called thuruths. During the non-crop seasons farm labourers worked in

dry lands with mud dug from wetlands. The process of the conversion of wetlands into dry

lands through filling was known as kattakuthipokkal. At the time of the formation of the

United Kerala State (Ayika Keralam) in 1956, a major portion of the paddy lands in the study

area was under the ownership of some Nair and Syrian Christian families and the prominent

among them were the Thayil Menons who owned 2400 acres of paddy fields in Ramankari.

Over the past several decades paddy farming activities in Ramankari village

remain more or less the same. In early days, the entire farming operations from the

construction and repair of ring bunds to the harvesting of the crop were done exclusively by

using manual labour. Mechanically operated pump sets using kerosene and diesel as fuel

were introduced in the study area during the 1940’s and it was the first step towards the

process of mechanization of farming activities. Important farming operations related to paddy

cultivation in the study area are the repair of outer bunds, dewatering, ploughing, clearing

and levelling of fields, erection and repair of inner bunds, sowing, weeding, application of

pesticides and harvesting. The changes that have taken place in the mode of these operations

over the past decades are discussed in this section.

(i) Repair of ring bunds

In early days the entire low-lying areas in Ramankari village were

submerged under water throughout the whole year. During the period of reclamation

ring bunds have been erected around specified plots and converted the areas within

the bunds into padasekharams. The method of erecting bunds to facilitate paddy

farming is known as varambukuthi krishi. Early bunds in the study area are made of

mud taken from the fields it self. In order to strengthen the bunds bottom part of the

stalk of paddy left in the fields after harvesting (chuvattukachi) had been used. Due to

floods and the incessant wave action ring bunds used to get damaged in non-cropping

seasons. The task of the erection and repair of ring bunds had been entrusted to low

caste agrestic slaves. Usually the repair works of ring bunds began after Onam. At

present some of the padasekharams in the study area have permanent outer bunds

strengthened with granite and the risk of breach in bunds and the resultant crop failure

have been substantially reduced. Annual maintenance works of bunds are carried out

by casual labourers under the supervision of padasekharam committees. Individual

farmers on the basis of the proportion of area they cultivate share the cost of the

work.

(ii) Dewatering

Prior to the installation of electric and diesel pump sets, manually operated

wooden wheels called chakrams were used to bail out the excess water from

padasekharams. These wheels were not of uniform size. Depending on its size the

number of leaves in a wheel varied from 8 to 24. In order to operate a large size

wheel having 24 leaves six healthy labourers were needed at a time. They sat in a

vertical array and pushed the leaves using their legs in the rhythm of folk songs called

thekku pattu. Usually such labourers worked in shifts of 3 hours and two shifts of

labour was considered as a full day’s work. Dewatering operation once began had to

be continued day and night without interruption until the entire excess water is bailed

out from the paddy fields. Even after the wide spread use of diesel and electric pump

sets in the study area, the traditional wheels had been used in small padasekharams

until a few years back.

At present in all of the padasekharams in the study area irrespective of

their size, electric pump sets are used for dewatering. However, the number and

capacity of pump sets vary in accordance with the size and depth of padasekharams.

In a single padasekharam called Thekkethollayiram at Ramankari with a total area of

90 acres 9 pump sets are installed and their capacity ranges from 25 to 50 HP. The

task of dewatering is entrusted to private contractors who get the contract in auction.

Like the ring bund repair charges, dewatering charges are also shared jointly by the

concerned farmers in each padasekharam on the basis of their paddy land sizes.

Usually dewatering operations for the summer crop begin by the end of September

when the water level in padasekharams declines to manageable limits and it lasts for 3

to 5 weeks without break.

(iii) Ploughing

In early days paddy farmers in the study area used to plough their fields

four times during a single crop season. In each round one lengthwise ploughing was

followed by a crosswise ploughing and together it was called a chal. The first chal of

ploughing was done immediately after harvesting and it was known as podiuzhavu

(dust ploughing). Besides it three chals of ploughing were carried out before sowing

and the practice was called vellathil uzhavu (water ploughing). Usually podi uzhavu

was given to plough workers on piece rates and they used their own draught animals.

Daily wages were given for vellathil uzhavu. Four hours of work was considered a

day’s work. Generally the plough labourers worked for six hours in a day and were

given one and a half day’s wages per day, which amounted to one and a half para of

paddy. Rich farmers had their own draught animals.

Attempts were made to introduce tractor ploughing in the study area

during the 1950’s itself but it was vehemently opposed by the farm labour unions. In

March 1969 a settlement between farmers and labourers was arrived at a meeting of

the IRC of Kuttanad. As per the agreement at least one round of cattle ploughing is to

be done after tractor ploughing. At present only 21 percent of the paddy farmers in

the study area are exclusively depending on animal ploughing, another 19 percent of

them use draught animals for only one round of ploughing while 46 percent use either

tractors or power tillers for this purpose. The remaining farmers believe that any sort

of ploughing is not needed in their fields. Now a days for both types of ploughing

piece rates in terms of money are given.

(iv) Repair of inner bunds, clearing and levelling of fields

After ploughing, the paddy fields are cleared by removing the rotten weed

particles and other waste materials. Then the field is subdivided in to small plots by

erecting inner bunds (idavarambu). These small bunds with one-foot height and one

to one and a half feet thickness are made up of mud taken from the field itself. In

early days green leaves and shrubs had been used to strengthen the inner bunds. After

the construction of inner bunds each plot inside these bunds is levelled using wooden

planks called njavari.

(v) Sowing

Traditional varieties of seeds like Chembavu, Kochuvithu, Vellathil

Kolapala, Puncha Kolapala and Chennellu were sown in the study area in early days.

The duration of these seeds varied from 100 to 120 days. Till recently most of the

paddy farmers in Ramankari used to keep a portion of their produce in each season as

seeds for the next season. Utmost care had been taken in the preparation as well as

preservation of seeds. Usually the seeds were dried in sun light for six consecutive

days. In order to ensure uniform dryness the seeds spread on mats were stirred at

regular intervals. On the seventh day the already dried seeds were once again exposed

to sunlight for a short while for final drying and the final drying is called anathu.

Finally the seeds are stored in baskets in moisture proof granaries until the next crop

season.

Very often the head worker, thalapulayan was in charge of seed

preparation. Cleanliness ( sudhavruthi) was given prime importance during the whole

process of seed preparation. Young women were not allowed to handle seeds and the

man in charge of drying seeds was not allowed to leave the spot and interact with

women till the prepared seeds are stored. Sowers were skilled workers who dispersed

the seeds through out the fields in an even manner. They were given piece rates that

amounted to 3 kooliyans of paddy for sowing one basket of seed (I para = 30

kooliyans). After the introduction of the Package Programme in the study area,

traditional and native varieties of seeds gave way to high yielding varieties like T-9,

MO-1, MO-2 and Thainan. By the eighties other seed varieties like Pavizham,

Thriveni, Kanchana, Mo-4, Jyothi and Bhadra had become popular in the study area.

At present nearly 85 percent of the paddy farmers in Ramankari village use Jyothi and

others are using Uma in their fields. Over the past years the quality of sowing has

considerably deteriorated due to the lack of skilled labourers.

(vi) Transplanting and weeding

Due to the poor quality of sowing paddy seeds fall in excess amounts in

some parts of the field while in some other parts the rate of seed fall is much lesser

than what is required. It results in the uneven distribution of seedlings and adversely

affects crop productivity. Therefore the excess seedlings are transferred from the

thickly growing parts to the sparsely growing parts of the field and this activity is

called transplantation or nattu.

The exuberance of wet land weeds like kavitta, pola, kannikapullu,

African payal (salvinia) and kulavazha (water hyacinth) had been a severe problem to

local paddy farmers especially after the completion of the Thanneermukkom Bund.

Until a few years back farmers in the study area used to remove weeds three times

from their fields in a crop season. The first weeding was done along with

transplanting and the second weeding was done within six to eight weeks after

sowing. The third weeding was done in between ten to twelve weeks after sowing.

Since the early years of paddy cultivation in this region farmers had been using water

as an effective agent to control weeds. Ten to fifteen days after sowing they used to

open the sluices in the outer bunds and allow the entry of outside water into the fields

in a controlled manner until the seedlings of paddy and weeds are fully immersed.

The water in the field is kept at that level for a few days and then bailed out.

Meanwhile most of the seedlings of weeds decay but the seedlings of paddy survive.

A more effective method of destroying seeds through inundation was later introduced

by a local farmer called Venganthara John Chacko about three decades back in his 55

acre padasekharam in Mambuzhakari. After pumping out the entire water from his

field for the summer crop he kept it as such for three weeks. In the already dried up

field seeds of weeds germinated and grew. Then he allowed the outside water to enter

and fill the field up to 3 feet depth. The water level was maintained for two weeks and

mean while most of the already grown weeds were destroyed. Very soon this new

method of weed destruction spread to the other areas of Kuttanad region. At present

after destroying the weeds in their paddy fields through inundation more than 80

percent of the farmers in the study area apply chemical weedicides to destroy weeds

completely. This practice of the gross destruction of weeds at their early stage of

growth has considerably reduced the menace of weeds in recent years. Now a days in

most of the padasekharams in the study area manual weeding through hand plucking

is carried out only once or twice during a crop season.

(vii) Manuring

Paddy fields in the study area are of two types viz., the traditional paddy

lands called elevated fields (pokkanilangal) and the fields reclaimed from water

bodies since the late 19th century called kayal lands. Compared to kayal lands soil in

elevated fields is less fertile and in early days farmers used to apply cow dung and

other organic manures only in such land. With the introduction of the New

Agricultural Strategy chemical fertilizers like urea, factumfos and potash became

popular in the study area. Even then some of the local farmers used to apply a mixture

of powdered groundnut cake and bone meal once in every crop season before using

chemical fertilizers. In those days manuring would start at early morning and three

labour days were enough to apply fertilizers in ten acres of paddy fields. Depending

on the financial capacity of farmers they used to apply chemical fertilizers two to

three times in a single crop season. At present none of the paddy farmers use cow

dung or any other farmyard manures in their fields but all of them apply chemical

fertilizers and the average quantity of it exceeds 175 kilograms per acre. In addition

to it about half of the local farmers use powdered lime in their field to neutralize the

acidity of soil (kattappuli). Further a small minority of them also uses neem cake,

which is regarded as manure as well as a pesticide. Manuring is done on piece rates

and its cost varies from 80 to 100 rupees per acre.

(viii) Plant protection measures

Since the early days leaf rollers, rice stem borers, rice bugs and rats were

the important pests that destroyed the paddy crop in the study area. Prior to the

introduction of chemical pesticides and insecticides local farmers had been adopting

certain crude measures to protect their crop from these pests. In order to destroy the

caterpillars of leaf rollers and rice stem borers they used to raise the water level in the

pest affected fields up to the tips of the paddy plants. Then in order to escape from the

slowly rising water level worms would move upwards and finally float. At this stage

labourers would collect the floating worms using baskets and take them to the ring

bunds where they are destroyed. This method of catching and destroying worms from

paddy fields is known as throwing baskets for worms or puzhuvinu kozhyerial. Some

of the paddy farmers in the study area used to adopt an occult practice called chazhi

vilakku to control rice bugs. In this practice holy water blessed by priests is sprinkled

in the affected fields. Usually a small portion of the affected field in some corner was

left for rice bugs and according to the farmers all of the rice bugs in the field would

accumulate in that corner sparing the other portions of the field. Many elder farmers

in the study area stated that they could control rates also using a similar method called

elivilakku.

Since the seventies local markets were flooded with a wide variety of

insecticides and paddy farmers began to use them indiscreetly. Until a few years back

most the farmers used to apply insecticides in their fields three to four times during a

single crop season at regular intervals. The Indo-Dutch Mission had estimated the

total quantity of liquid pesticides used in paddy cultivation in Kuttanad region during

the year 1987-88 as 293660 litres. Along with this 190.97 tonnes of powdered

pesticides were also used in that year41. Besides the permitted pesticides, the already

banned DDT and its two derivatives DDE and DDD were frequently used in the study

area even after the flowering of paddy plants. Very often farmers were not aware of

the consequences of the excess use of the highly toxic pesticides and in matters

regarding the quantity and variety of its use they were guided by pesticide dealers and

salesmen. Recently the quantity and periodicity in pesticide application in the study

area had been considerably reduced. At present nearly one-fourth of the paddy

farmers do not apply any sort of pesticide or insecticide in their paddy fields. The

average quantity of pesticides used in the study area during the previous summer crop

is estimated as 328 milliliters per acre. Important varieties of pesticides used in the

41 Indo- Dutch Mission (1989): Op.cit.,Annex C, Appendix 1, p.40

study area are metacid, dimacrone, monocrotophos, nuvacron, bavastin, ecalux and

furadan. In addition to it some farmers apply protect their crop from plant diseases.

(ix) Harvesting

Harvesting involves reaping, bringing the sheaves to threshing grounds

(kalam), threshing and winnowing. About four decades back ten fold yield was

considered as economical (nervattom vilavu) in the sense that it was enough to the

paddy farmers to get normal profits after meeting their entire cultivation costs. In

those days harvesters were given one-elevenths of the yield as patham42. In addition

to it outside labourers were given two paras of paddy as adayam. Harvesters used to

get their patham only at the end of harvesting which lasted for many weeks. In 1943,

farm labourers in the study area under the leadership of the Thiruvithamkoor

Karshaka Thozhilali Union organized an agitation demanding subsistence wages in

terms of paddy during the harvesting days. At the end of the agitation farmers agreed

to give one sheath of paddy as theerpu katta to every labourers after two days of

reaping. In those days the reapers used to bind the cut grain into sheaves and the

system was called kattaketti koyith. Again they had to take the sheaves to distant

threshing grounds for threshing and all the harvesting operations were done manually.

At present the reapers leave the cut grains in small heaps in the fields and

farmers have to employ additional labourers to tie and bring the sheaves to the

threshing grounds. Until a few years back large electric fans were used for

winnowing. Now a days threshing machines that perform both the tasks of threshing

and winnowing are used in all of the padasekharams in the study area. For harvesting

labourers are given one- eights of the produce as patham and one-fourths of patham

as theerpu. Besides it, nearly 70 percent of the sample farmers in Ramankari village

give incentives to their labourers in the form of refreshments, conveyance charges etc.

Even though harvesting machines are recently introduced in some parts of Kuttanad

region, due to the vehement resentment of labour unions, so far it could not be used in

the study area.

42 The term patham literally means one for ten or pathinu onnu

* * *

Chapter – 4

ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF PADDY CULTIVATION IN RAMANKARI VILLAGE

As rational producers, area allocation decisions of farmers are always guided by

the relative profitability of various crops that can be cultivated in their fields. Profitability

in turn is a function of both cultivation costs and farm level prices agricultural products.

Over the past several years, the successful operation of the public distribution system in

the state has acted as a price stabilizing factor of food articles and thereby it has

dampened down the rate of increase in the prices of food crops in general and that of rice

in particular43. The relatively lower growth rates in paddy prices till the late nineties had

encouraged the farmers in the state to reallocate their fields for the cultivation of more

remunerative cash crops.

Unlike the major rice producing areas in the state with the exception of the kole

lands in Thrissur district, the low lying kayal lands cannot be used to cultivate the

alternative cash crops in a large scale. Even though it is technically possible to cultivate

garden crops after filling the low lying paddy lands with soil or mud and thereby bringing

on its elevation higher than the MSL, it involves huge investments and is against the

provisions of the Kerala Land Utilisation Act of 1970. Past experiences show that

whenever paddy prices had gone up and profitability of the crop was high, farmers in

Kuttanad were induced to enhance rice production either by bringing more lands under

plough or by increasing crop intensity. Land reclamation activities in Kuttanad reached

its peak level during the first world war period when paddy prices increased manifold.

Prior to the war years farmers in this region used to sow their fields once in three or more

years. The better prospects of getting abnormal profits at that time prompted almost all of

the cultivators of kayal lands to resort to a system of annual cropping. However, during

the post war years when paddy cultivation became uneconomical they relapsed to the

earlier system. Again during the second world war paddy prices soared up and cultivation

costs declined due to the wide spread use of electric pumps. Profitability of the crop

increased and it resulted in the reclamation of kayal lands once again.

43 Thomas P M (1999): Agricultural performance in Kerala in B A Prakash(ed), Kerala’s Economic Development, Op.cit., p.174

Paddy farmers in Ramankari village used to raise a second crop (Varsha crop) in

addition to the traditional summer crop (puncha crop) in their fields until three or four

years back. Compared to the puncha crop, per acre yield of paddy during the varsha crop

season had been considerably lesser and it is more vulnerable to crop failures due to

floods. Generally local farmers believe that keeping their lands fallow during the autumn

and winter seasons will enhance the productivity of the crop during the summer season.

The possibility of getting more profits with more consistency has induced local farmers

to restrict their farming activities to the single season of puncha crop and at present in all

of the padasekharams in the study area a single crop is raised annually. It has

substantially reduced the gross cropped area under paddy. While a large section of the

medium and large farmers in the study area are of the opinion that the raising of the

second crop is uneconomical, a vast majority of the marginal farmers as well as the farm

labourers believe that the second crop is also reasonably remunerative. According to

them the decision of Padasekharam Committees to refrain from attempting a second crop

is influenced by the opinion of rich and influential farmers who have other major sources

of income. In this background we attempt to examine the profitability of the crop in the

study area harvested during the summer months from February to May 2001.

In order to estimate cost of cultivation of important crops in Kerala, the

Department of Economics and Statistics has used three cost concepts viz., Cost A, Cost B

and Cost C. Cost A consists of cash and kind expenses (paid out costs) actually incurred

by the cultivators. Cost B consists of Cost A and interest on fixed assets including land

and Cost C is taken as the sum of Cost B and the imputed value of family labour 44. In the

present study cost of cultivation of paddy crop is estimated as the sum total of material

costs, labour costs and miscellaneous expenses such as land lax, cost of repairing

equipments etc. Per acre gross profit of the crop is calculated as the difference between

paid out costs and value of the product. In order to work out net profits interest on

working capital is added to paid out costs and the sum is deducted from the value of out

put.

44 GOK (1991): Report on the Cost of cultivation of Important Crops in Kerala: 1989 – 90 , Department of Economics and Statistics, Thiruvananthapuram, pp.3-4

4.1 Cost Components

Production costs in paddy cultivation can be broadly classified into material costs,

labour (human, animal and machine) costs and miscellaneous expenses. The different

cost items for the marginal, small, medium and large sample farmers in the study area are

separately estimated in this part of the present study.

4.1.1 Material Costs

Material costs consist of the cost of seeds, fertilizers, weedicides, insecticides and

lime.

a. Cost of seeds

About in place of nearly 95 percent of the sample farmers in the study area

purchased seeds during the last crop season. Nearly 25 percent of them bought seeds

from co-operative societies and 18 percent bought it from seed farms at subsidised rates.

More than 50 percent of the paddy farmers relied on farmers of other areas who had

raised the second crop, to meet their seed requirements. Even though the farmers had to

pay higher prices to purchase seeds from private farmers the quality of such seeds had

been relatively better. Many of the farmers who had got seeds from co-operative societies

and government seed farms at a lower price complained that the germinating rate of the

seeds was very poor. There are instances in which farmers had to sow their fields for a

second time due to the poor quality of the subsidised seeds. Even though the

recommended quantity of seeds needed per acre is 40 kilograms, sample farmers in the

study area, guided by their past experience, use 50 to 60 kilograms of seed per acre in

their fields. They had to pay 7.5 to 12 rupees per kilogram for seeds. On an average a

sample paddy farmer in the study area spent Rs.528.9 as the cost of seeds per acre. The

per acre costs of seeds for the marginal, small, medium and large farmers are estimated as

Rs.518.50, Rs.540, Rs.513.67 and Rs.542.50 respectively.

b. Fertilizer use and costs

All of the sample farmers in Ramankari village use chemical fertilizers in their

fields. The average per acre use of chemical fertilizers (N + P + K) of marginal, small,

medium and large farmers are estimated as 162.1, 184.3, 192.9 and 176.3 kilograms

respectively and they had spent Rs.855, Rs.977, Rs.980 and Rs.870 respectively for its

purchase. On an average a sample farmer in the study area applies 178.9 kilograms of

chemical fertilizers the cost of which amounts to 921 rupees. It is observed that none of

the farmers at present uses farm yard manures like cow dung or ash. Agricultural research

shows that the use of lime in right quantities is imperative to neutralise the high level of

acidity in kayal lands. However, out of the total 90 sample farmers only 41 persons (45.6

percent) had used lime in their fields. Category wise analysis of farmers shows that 67

percent of the marginal farmers, 58 percent of the small farmers, 33 percent of the

medium farmers and 42 percent of the large farmers abstained from using lime during the

previous crop season. It is estimated that the average use per acre of lime in the study

area amounted to 122 kilograms and compared to marginal farmers, large fa rmers use

more than three fold quantity of lime. The cost of lime per acre is estimated to be 122

rupees. Average per acre consumption and cost of different types of fertilizers for the

four categories of farmers are given in table 4.1.

Table 4.1

Consumption and Cost Fertilizers in Paddy Cultivation

Consumption (in kg/Acre) Cost (in Rs./Acre) Type of farmers N P K N+P+K Lime N+P+K Lime Total Marginal 38.3 79.0 44.8 162.1 22.7 855 54 909 Small 47.0 87.9 49.4 184.3 45.9 977 107 1084 Medium 54.9 87.0 51.0 192.9 62.7 980 158 1138 Large 46.3 82.5 47.5 176.3 74.2 870 170 1040 Average 46.6 84.1 48.2 178.9 51.4 921 122 1043

C. Use of weedicides and insecticides and their costs

More than 80 percent of the sample paddy farmers in the study area use

weedicides and its average application per acre is estimated as 352 millilitres. Over the

past few years the use of weedicides is becoming increasingly popular among the sample

farmers. On the other hand the extent of the use of insecticides has been declining in this

area. Most of the sample farmers have either reduced the quantity of pesticides they used

to apply or have completely stopped its application. Present survey reveals that only 64

percent of them had applied any varieties of pesticides or insecticides in their fields

during the last puncha season. The per acre application of pesticides in the study area is

found to be 310 millilitres and its cost is estimated as 151.61 rupees. Compared to the

other categories of farmers, the per acre cost on weedicides is found to be higher for the

medium farmers while the cost of insecticides per acre is found to be relatively higher for

marginal farmers. Due to the variations in the types of used insecticides, their total

quantity and costs are not in perfect correlation. Per acre application of weedicides and

pesticides and their respective costs for the different categories of farmers are given in

table 4.2

Table 4.2

Use of Weedicides and Pesticides and Their Costs (Quantity in ml/acre, Cost in Rs/acre)

Weedicide Pesticide Total Type of farmers

Quantity Cost Quantity Cost Quantity Cost Marginal 342 47.70 335 172.27 677 219.54 Small 314 43.18 326 169.48 640 212.66 Medium 417 52.13 217 108.00 634 160.13 Large 333 48.83 363 156.67 696 205.10 Average 352 147.85 310 151.61 662 199.36

It is found that the average material costs per acre in the study area amounted to

Rs 1770.96 and the cost of fertilizers alone accounted for more than 50 percent of it. Cost

on seeds came up to 30 percent of the total material costs while the percentage shares of

the costs of weedicides, insecticides and lime are estimated as 1.70, 8.56 and 6.70

respectively. Compared to marginal and large farmers, the per acre material costs of

small and medium farmers are found to be higher. Relevant figures are given in table 4.3

Table 4.3

Distribution of Material Costs in Paddy Cultivation (Costs in Rs/Acre)

Type of farmers

Cost items Marginal Small Medium Large

Average Seed 518.50(31.49) 540.91(29.44) 513.67(28.35) 542.50(30.34) 528.90(29.87) Fertilizer 854.67(51.94) 977.06(53.18) 980.00(54.08) 870.00(48.66) 920.43(51.97) Weedicide 47.27(2.87) 43.18(2.35) 52.13(2.88) 48.83(2.73) 47.85(2.70) Insecticide 172.27(10.46) 169.48(9.22) 108.00(5.95) 156.67(8.76) 151.61(8.56) Lime 53.67(3.26) 106.67(5.81) 158.33(8.74) 170.00(9.51) 122.17(6.70) Total 1646.37(100.00) 1837.30(100.00) 1812.13(100.00) 788.00(100.00) 1770.96(100.00)

Note: Percentages are given in brackets 4.1.2 Labour Costs

Labour costs consists of the cost of human labour which includes the cost of hired

human labour and imputed value of household labour and exchange labour, animal labour

costs and costs of machine labour.

a. Human labour requirements and costs

In the study area household labour is not extensively used in paddy cultivation.

Out of the 90 sample farmer households, it is found that in only 36 (40 percent) of them

household members indulge in farming operations. The remaining 53 (60percent)

households are exclusively depending on hired labour to meet their labour requirements.

For farming operations like the levelling and removal of weeds before sowing,

construction and repair of inner bunds, transplantation and weeding daily wages are given

to workers. Usually daily labourers work for six hours in a day and the amount of male

and female labour days needed to perform the above operations in the study area are

found to be 6.8 and 19.2 respectively per acre. At the time of our survey the prevailing

daily wage rates for male and female labourers were Rs.125 and Rs.60 respectively. For

farming operations like sowing, harvesting, manuring and plant protection works piece

rates are given. The piece rate wages for the same activity vary from one locality to

another locality in the same village and in the same locality itself it shows differences

based on the size of the paddy land holdings and bargaining power of the farmers. During

the last summer crop season the prevailing rates per acre in the study area were Rs 60 to

80 for sowing and Rs 70 to 90 for manuring. For spraying weedicides and insecticides the

existing rates per container was Rs 8 to 12 and Rs 15 to 18 respectively. For harvesting

one-eighths of the reaped crop is given as patham and one-fourths of patham is given as

theerpu. Together it amounts to 15.63 percent of the total harvest. In addition to normal

wages, about 70 percent of the sample farmers in the study area used to give incentives to

their workers in the forms of refreshments, conveyance charges etc., that amounted to 11

rupees per day per worker. All farmers on the basis of the size of area they cultivate share

costs on the repair of ring bunds and dewatering. The padasekharam committee often

appropriates production incentives and other subsidies provided to the farmers by the

government and each farmer’s share of dewatering charges (nerma) and the cost of

repairing ring bunds are adjusted against it. After deducting production bonus, paddy

farmers in the study area had to pay 200 to 400 rupees per acre as nerma during the last

summer crop season.

On an average the sample farmers of the study area had spent Rs 4307 per acre as

human labour costs. It is found that more than 45 percent of the total human labour cost is

incurred as harvesting charges. Another major human labour cost item is the cost of

preparing fields for sowing which amounts to more than 20 percent of the total cost.

Transplanting and weeding which are the other two major farming operations in paddy

cultivation together accounts for nearly 22 percent of the total human labour costs. For

other activities like the preparation of threshing yards ( kalam) and bringing in the reaped

sheaves to kalam if the cultivating plots are not located in its close vicinity, farmers in the

study area on an average spend nearly 175 rupees per acre. Average per acre human

labour costs of the marginal, small, medium and large sample farmers are separately

given in table 4.4, which shows that compared to other categories, marginal farmers in

the study area spend lesser amounts as human labour costs.

a. Animal labour costs

The loamy soil found in the paddy fields of Ramankari village is a mixture of clay

and sand that gets hardened only when it is directly exposed to sunlight. The surface of

the paddy lands in this area is immersed in water through out the year except for a short

period after the dewatering operations. Even at that time the moisture of soil is retained

and it never becomes hard. Hence it has become a matter of contention whether

ploughing has any positive impact on the yield rate. At present a considerable section of

paddy farmers are of the opinion that any sort of ploughing is quite unnecessary to

maintain crop productivity. During the previous puncha season 15 percent of the sample

farmers in the study area refrained from ploughing their fields. More than 21 percent of

the sample farmers used drought animals to plough their fields and nearly 19 percent of

them used tractors or power tillers along with oxen. On an average a sample farmer in the

study area spent Rs 180 as animal labour costs per acre. The per acre costs on hired

animal labour for the marginal, small, medium and large farmers are estimated as Rs.143,

Rs.271.21, Rs.156.67 and Rs.150.83 respectively.

Table 4.4

Human Labour Costs in Paddy Cultivation (Cost in Rs/Acre)

Type of farmers

Activity Marginal Small Medium Large

Average

Land preparation 843.34

(19.78)

959.55

(21.54)

807.34

(18.89)

854.58

(20.16)

866.20

(20.11)

Sowing 84.00

(1.97)

82.03

(1.84)

81.67

(1.91)

88.13

(2.08)

84.01

(1.95)

Transplanting 446.50

(10.48)

408.03

(9.16)

412.00

(9.64)

380.00

(8.96)

411.63

(9.56)

Weeding 568.33

(13.35)

493.48

(11.08)

480.00

(11.23)

530.00

(12.50)

517.95

(12.03)

Manuring 170.67

(4.01)

196.48

(4.41)

184.67

(4.32)

199.58

(4.71)

187.85

(4.36)

Plant protection 76.50

(1.80)

98.33

(2.21)

50.67

(1.19)

77.08

(1.82)

75.65

(1.76)

Harvesting 1898.50

(44.58)

2036.67

(45.73)

2069.87

(48.42)

1952.75

(46.07)

1989.45

(46.20)

Miscellaneous 170.67

(4.01)

179.55

(4.03)

188.33

(4.41)

156.67

(3.70)

173.81

(4.04)

Total 4258.67

(100.00)

4454.12

(100.00)

4274.53

(100.00)

4239.00

(100.00)

4306.58

(100.00)

Note: Percentages are given in brackets

c. Machine labour costs

In the study area machine labour is used for dewatering, ploughing, threshing and

winnowing. Dewatering operations in large padasekharams are more economical as per

acre pumping expenses can be reduced by using high power electric pump sets. On an

average the per acre pumping charges (nerma) amounted to Rs.298.35 after deducting the

government subsidies. As else where in Kuttanad all of the sample farmers had hired

threshing machines that performs the twin functions of both threshing and winnowing.

Throughout the study area the per acre hiring charges of threshing machines was Rs.300.

It is found that during the last crop season 45 percent of the sample farmers used tractors

or power tillers for ploughing their fields. An average farmer in the study area had spent

Rs.206.92 per acre as the hiring charges of tractors and power tillers. As 83 percent of the

large farmers had adopted machine ploughing in this regard their average cost per acre is

found to be relatively higher. The average per acre machine labour cost of the sample

farmers in the study area is estimated as Rs.805.27. Machine labour costs of the different

categories of farmers are shown in table 4.5.

Table 4.5

Distribution of Machine Labour Costs (Costs in Rs/Acre)

Type of farmers Cost items Marginal Small Medium Large

Average

Tractor/tiller 211.67 182.58 156.33 277.08 206.92 Threshing 300.00 300.00 300.00 300.00 300.00 Pumping 254.00 292.73 330.00 316.67 298.35 Total 765.67 775.31 786.33 893.75 805.27

4.1.3 Other expenses

In addition to the material and labour cost, paddy cultivation in the study area

involves certain miscellaneous expenses such as land tax, cost of purchase of implements

like baskets, repair charges of farming implements, expenses to provide refreshments to

labourers, other incentives given to farm labourers etc. During the last puncha season

sample farmers of the study area on an average had spent Rs.217 as miscellaneous

expenses.

The per acre total cost of paddy cultivation in the study area during the last crop

season is estimated as Rs.7281. Out of it labour costs amounted to 72.8 percent and the

cost of human labour alone came up to 59.2 percent. Another major cost item is the

material cost which amounted to nearly one-fourth of the total costs. Any sort of direct

relationship between per acre costs and size of operational land holdings could not be

detected. Cost of cultivation of paddy crop per acre is found to be the lowest for marginal

farmers and highest for the small farmers. The difference between the costs of the above

two categories of farmers comes only up to 7.14 percent. Consolidated statement of the

various cost items for the marginal, small, medium and large farmers in the study area is

shown in table 4.6.

Table 4.6

Cost of Cultivation of Paddy Crop in Ramankari Village

(Cost in Rs/Acre)

Category of farmers Cost items Marginal Small Medium Large

Average

Material cost

1646(23.4) 1837(24.3) 1812(25.0) 1788(24.6) 1771(24.3)

Human labour cost

4259(60.4) 4454(59.0) 4275(58.9) 4239(58.3) 4307(59.2)

Machine labour cost

766(10.9) 775(10.3) 786(10.8) 894(12.3) 805(11.1)

Animal labour cost

143(2.0) 271(3.6) 157(2.2) 151(2.1) 181(2.5)

Miscellaneous

233(3.3) 212(2.8) 227(3.1) 196(2.7) 217(3.0)

Total 7047(100.0) 7549(100.0) 7257(100.0) 7268(100.0) 7281(100.0) Note: Percentages are given in brackets

If the amount of interest on working capital at the annual rate of 12 percent for a

period of six months is added to the paid out costs, then the average per acre cost of

paddy cultivation in the study area increases to Rs.7718. After the interest amounts, the

respective cultivation costs of the marginal, small, medium and large farmers become

Rs.7470, rs.8002, Rs.7692 and Rs.7704 per acre.

4.2 Productivity and Value of Product

The Indo-Dutch Mission had estimated the per hectare productivity of puncha

paddy in Kuttanad region during the year 1988-89 as 3800 kilograms per hectare (1520

kilograms per acre). The present study shows that the per acre paddy productivity of the

summer crop in Ramankari village during the year 2000-’01 amounted to 1918

kilograms. The average productivity of the crop for the marginal, small, medium and

large farmers had been separately estimated as 1818, 1955, 2009 and 1891 kilograms per

acre respectively. It shows that compared to medium and small farms, per acre

productivity in marginal and large farms were relatively lesser.

The selling price of paddy had shown substantial variations in the area depending

on the varieties of sown seeds, time of sales and purchasers of the product. Among the

two seed varieties sown in the study area viz., Jyothi (12-85) and Uma(D1), the average

price of Jyothi had been 20630 percent higher then that of Uma during the harvesting

season. While co-operative societies purchased paddy from farmers at the rate of Rs 650

per quintal, open market prices varied from Rs.525 to Rs.600 per quintal. About 97

percent of the marginal farmers sold their product either to local private traders or to

commission agents of outside rice mills immediately after harvest and the average price

they received is estimated as Rs.580 per quintal. Nearly 85 percent of the small farmers

and 80 percent of the medium farmers also sold their product to private agencies and the

average prices they obtained are estimated as Rs.592 and Rs.597 per quintal respectively.

It is found that 25 percent of the sample large farmers had sold their paddy to co-

operative societies and another 58 percent of them sold their product to commission

agents. The average price they received amounted to Rs.612 per quintal. Considering all

of the four categories of farmers together, 61.5 percent of the sample farmers sold their

product to commission agents of outside mills, 25.6 percent sold it to local private traders

and another 12.2 percent sold to co-operative societies. The average price they received is

found to be Rs.595 per quintal.

While estimating the value of product, the price of straw is not considered as none

of the sample farmers could sell it at any price due to the dearth of demand. More than 60

percent of the sample farmers retained a portion of their product, which ranges from 3 to

10 quintals for household consumption. The market price of paddy is taken to calculate

the imputed value of the product used for self-consumption. The average value of product

per acre of the sample paddy farmers in the study area for the last summer crop is

estimated to be Rs 11412. A comparison among the four categories of farmers shows that

the per acre value of product for marginal farmers which is estimated as Rs.10544 had

been 7.6 percent less than the overall average whereas the value of the product for

medium farmers which is found to be Rs.11994 per acre was 5.1 percent higher than that

of the overall average. Average per acre productivity, selling price per quintal and

income from paddy cultivation for the marginal, small, medium and large farmers are

given in table 4.7

Table 4.7 Productivity, Price and Value of Product of Paddy Crop in Rmankari village

(Productivity in Qtl/Ha., Price in Rs/Quintal)

Type of farmers Productivity Price Value of Product Marginal 18.18 580 10544 Small 19.55 592 11574 Medium 20.09 597 11994 Large 18.91 612 11573 Average 19.81 595 11412

4.3 Profitability of Paddy Crop in the Study Area

Per acre gross profit of the sample farmers in the study area is calculated as the

difference between the average paid out production costs and value of the product

whereas the net profit per acre is estimated after adding interest to the paid out costs.

During the summer crop of 2000-01, the average per acre gross profit of the sample

farmers amounted to Rs 4131. In this regard considerable variations are observed among

the different categories of farmers. While the marginal farmers in the study area obtained

Rs.3497 per acre as their gross profits the corresponding figure in the case of medium

farmers was as high as Rs.4737, which is 35 percent higher than the former. After

deducting the amount of interest on working capital from the gross profit, an average

sample farmer in study area could get only Rs.3694 per acre as his net profit. Among the

four categories of sample farmers, the average net profit of the marginal farmers, which is

found to be Rs.3074 per acre, is 28.54 percent less than that of the medium farmers’ net

profit that amounted to Rs.4302 per acre. Details of the gross and net profits of the

marginal, small, medium and large farmers are given in table 4.8.

Table 4.8

Gross and Net Profits in Paddy Cultivation in the Study Area (in Rs/Acre)

In order to produce one quintal of paddy an average farmer in the study area had

spent Rs.380.The corresponding figures for the marginal, small, medium and large

farmers are worked out as Rs.388, Rs.386, Rs.361 and Rs.384 respectively which shows

that the variability in per quintal cost of production among the different categories of

farmers is not substantial. For every 100 rupees spent for paddy cultivation an average

farmer in the study area has obtained Rs.53.52 as profit. The respective profitability of an

equal amount of investment for the marginal, small, medium and large farmers in the

study area are estimated as Rs.46.81, Rs.50.30, Rs.61.58 and Rs.55.88 which clearly

shows that paddy cultivation yields substantial rate of returns to the farmers. In the study

area paddy land price ranges from 50 thousand to one lakh rupees and if the interest on

land value is added to paid out costs of cultivation, paddy farming in this area is not

economically viable. However, as pointed out by M A Oommen land is generally treated

as a particular type of asset with fair liquidity in the state rather than a means of

production that yields reasonable returns 45. Again the opportunity cost of the paddy fields

in the study area is almost zero. Hence the value of land need not be considered while

examining the economic viability of paddy crop.

* * * *

45 Oommen M A (1994): Land Reforms and Economic Change-Experience and Lesson from Kerala, in Prakash BA (ed.), Keralas Economy -Performance, Problems and Prospects, Sage Publications, New Delhi

1.Type of

farmers

2.Value of Product

3.Paidout cost

4.Interest

5.Total cost (3+4)

Gross profit (2-3)

Net profit (2-5)

Marginal 10544 7047 423 7470 3497 3074 Small 11574 7549 453 8002 4025 4025 Medium 11994 7257 435 7692 4737 4302 Large 11573 7268 436 7704 4305 3869 Average 11412 7281 437 7718 4131 3694

Chapter -5

PROBLEMS OF THE PADDY FARM SECTOR IN RAMAKARI VILLAGE AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS IMPROVEMENT

This chapter of the present study is divided is two parts. In its first part we

examine the major current problems related to paddy cultivation in the study area.

Most of these problems are relevant to the paddy farm sector of the whole Kuttanad

region as well. In the second part we suggest certain remedial measures for the

development of paddy cultivation in this region.

5.1 Current Problems

At present the paddy farm sector in the study area is on the verge of a serious

crisis and farmers are facing a host of problems like the non-availability of required

number of labourers during the peak crop season, declining profitability of the

crop, militant trade unionism, slow pace mechanization, lack of easy credit and

proper marketing facilities, recurring crop failures, uneconomic size of holdings and

so on. Four to five years back in almost all of the padasekharams in the study area

farmers used to raise a second crop called the varsha crop in addition to the

traditional puncha crop. Unable to withstand the ever growing problems in paddy

cultivation, at present the local farmers have reduced crop intensity by dropping the

second crop and their fields are kept fallow for several months after the summer

harvest. Current problems related to paddy cultivation in the study area can be

listed as follows.

5.1.1 Labour shortage

Compared to garden crops and plantation crops, paddy cultivation is more

labour intensive. It is estimated that human labour costs amount to nearly 60

percent of the total costs involved in paddy farming. Present investigation shows

that household members of 60 percent of the sample farmers in the study area do

not perform any sort of manual works in their fields. It is also found that 33 percent

of the marginal farmers, 67 percent of the small farmers, 80 percent of the medium

farmers and 83 percent of the local farmers are exclusively depending on hired

human labour. According to a vast majority of paddy farmers in this area the single

biggest problem they are facing is the non-availability of sufficient farm labourers

during the harvesting season. The Indo -Dutch Mission in 1988-89 had estimated the

labour shortage in the kayal lands of Kuttanad as 30.76 percent. As per the labour

union records there are 2652 agricultural labourers in Ramankari panchayat and

about 80 percent of them are residents of Ramankari village. It amounts to nearly

half of the total number of employed persons in the study area. (Present study shows

that the actual percentage of farm labourers to the total employed persons is 30.25

in Ramankari village. In spite of it, in recent years the problem of labour shortage

has become so acute in the study area that the paddy farmers have to provide

refreshments, travel allowances and other perks to the workers in addition to the

prevailing wages. Some farmers in the study area cited their experience of giving

money for toddy to the male workers to ensure their next days work during the

harvest season. If the yield in a particular field turns to be poor, very often

labourers refuse to harvest that crop. There are instances in which farmers had to

burn their crop due to the reluctance of farm labourers to reap the harvest on

account of poor productivity. The inordinate delay in the completion of harvesting

operations results in wastages and increases the cost of land preparation for the next

crop due to the excessive growth of weeds.

A major portion of the human labour requirements in paddy cultivation is

for harvesting the crop. Until few decades back the supply of local labour during the

harvest season was supplemented by outside labourers. Hundreds of outside

labourers used to come to the padasekharams as harvesters and stayed in

temporary sheds until the entire harvesting operations are over. In course of time as

harvesting became less attractive the inflow of such labourers gradually declined

and at present all of the paddy farmers are depending on locally available labourers

for all farming activities. Even though the problem of labour shortage becomes

more severe during the harvest season many local farmers complained that they

could not complete other activities like transplanting and weeding in the right time

due to the paucity of farm labo urers.

The worsening situation of labour shortages can be attributes to so many

inter related factors such as the growing employment opportunities for the rural

workforce in other sectors, successful implementation of poverty alleviation and self

employment generating programmes like IRDP, TRRYCEM, JRY and DWCRA

introduced by the government in rural areas and the growing aversion of the new

generation from traditional agricultural labour families to follow their household

occupation. All of the farm labourers from the study area whom we contacted

invariably stated that they do not like their children to become agricultural

labourers as the work in paddy fields is comparatively more strenuous and

tiresome. Traditionally a major portion of the paddy farm labourers in this area

belonged to scheduled castes and after the implementation of land reforms many of

them had become paddy landowners. Over the past few decades the social and

economic status of this segment of the rural population has considerably improved.

At present a large number of persons from these families are permanent employees

in other sectors capable of financially supporting their households. The successful

adoption of family planning programmes and the resultant decline in the

dependency load has enabled agricultural labour households to rely exclusively on

the earnings of male members and their women folk refrain from farm labour

works. Again after the construction of the Thanneermukkom Bund all of the

padasekharams in this region are sown simultaneously and the seeds are also having

almost the same duration. As a result of it farming operations like transplanting,

weeding and harvesting in all of the fields are to be done at the same time and it puts

more pressure on the locally available labourers aggravating the problem of labour

shortage.

Unlike other farming operations, for harvesting labourers are given wages in

kind as a fixed proportion of the harvested crop called patham. Even though the

daily cash wages of farm labourers are revised every year, the rate of patham

remains the same since the early seventies. During the period 1980-81 to 1999-2000,

the average daily wage rate of male paddy farm labourers increased from 11.13 to

118.90 rupees at the annual compound growth rate of 13.27 percent. Meanwhile the

average daily wage of female workers increased from 7.91 to 78.80 rupees showing

the growth rate of 12.86 percent per year. However, during the same period the

average price of paddy per quintal had increased from 152 to 685 rupees showing a

relatively much lower growth rate of 8.25 percent per year. The lower growth rates

in the price of paddy adversely affect the real earnings of reapers. Again, payments

in terms of paddy is unfavorable to farm labourers in two other respects. First, the y

receive their payments only after threshing and winnowing and the time gap

between reaping and threshing very often goes up to 30 or more days. Second, as the

price of paddy considerably decreases during the harvest season, labourers who are

badly in need of money to meet their day to day expenses are forced to sell their

share of paddy at the then prevailing low price. Therefore many of the paddy farm

labourers in the study area are least interested in harvesting once they earn enough

paddy for their household consumption and hence the problem of labour shortage

becomes more acute during the harvesting season.

5.1.2 Small size of holdings and decline in the number of full time farmers

It has been pointed out that an agricultural household with 5 to 6 member

needs at least 10 acres of paddy fields for its sustenance in the absence of any other

source of income. However, in Kuttanad only 3 percent of the farmer households

possess that much land46. As per the provisions of the Land Reforms Act (1969) the

maximum area of paddy fields that a family can possess is restricted to ten acres.

The excess land above the ceiling is declared as surplus and taken over by the

government for redistribution. The redistribution of such surplus paddy lands taken

over from large enterprising farmers in Kuttanad led to the formation of a new class

of absentee land owners with less than one acre of paddy fields. Unable to conduct

paddy farming successfully in their newly acquired fields, at present many of them

lease out their lands to tenant farmers defeating the very purpose of land reforms.

In the study area the average profit per acre from paddy cultivation during

the year 2000-’01 is estimated as 3694 rupees and the average size of a paddy-

cultivating household is found to be 5.48. Again it is found that only 4.67 percent of

the paddy landowners in this area are large farmers who cultivate five or more

acres of land. The per capita income of the state during the year 1999-2000 is

estimated as 19461 rupees at current prices47. In order to keep its income at par

with the state level a household solely depending on paddy cultivation should

46 Babu Ambat (1992): Kuttanad, Sathiyavum Midhyayum (Mal), Kerala Sastra Parishat, Kozhikode, p.129 47 GOK (2001): Economic Review 2000 , SPB, Thiruvananthapuram, p.19, table 2.8

cultivate at least 28.87 acres of land but none of the paddy farmers in the study area

owns that much wet lands.

The distribution of sample paddy farmers on the basis of their major

occupation shows that only 60 percent of them are full time farmers (table 5.1).

Again the occupation wise distribution of employed persons from these households

shows that only 35 percent of the 156 employed persons are pure cultivators of

paddy while the rest of them are engaged in other activities. It is estimated that in

more than 95 percent of the farmer households either the cultivators themselves or

other members from their families have alternative sources of income. Paddy as a

crop needs much personal care and strict supervision, which can be expected only

from full time farmers. It is one of the major reasons for the reluctance of paddy

cultivators to raise a second crop from their fields.

Table 5.1

Distribution of sample Farmers on the Basis of Their Major Occupation

Major occupation No. of cultivators Percentages Paddy farming 54 60.00 Fish farming 3 3.33 Agricultural labour 11 12.22 Self employed 10 11.11 Private employment 2 2.22 Govt.employment 2 2.22 Casual labour 8 8.89 Total 90 100.00

5.1.3 Declining profitability

Material input and human labour costs together account for 83.48 percent of

the total paid out costs of paddy cultivation in the study area. There had been

unprecedented increase in the prices of agricultural inputs since the adoption of the

New Economic Policy (N E P) in the country during the early nineties. Since July

1991 the administrated prices of nitrogenous fertilizers were increased by 30

percent in accordance with the New Fertilizer Policy of the Union government.

Increases in the prices of phosphatic and pottassic fertilizers were in tune of 250

percent from August, 1992. Within a period of nine years from 1991-92 to 1999-2000

fertilizer and pesticide prices in the country increased manifold. During this period

the price of urea increased from Rs.3060 to Rs 4600 per tonne (excluding sales tax),

the price of superphosphate increased from Rs.950 to Rs.2850 and the price of

muriate of potash increased from Rs.1300 to Rs.4255. The overall increase in the

prices of these key fertilizers during this period are found to be 50.33 percent, 200

percent and 227.31 percent respectively. Meanwhile the prices of different types of

pestcides also increased substantially. For example the price of monocrotophos

increased from Rs 268 to Rs 346 per litre and the price of quinalphose rose from Rs

193 to Rs 390. Within the same period the average price of paddy seeds supplied by

the National Seed Corporation (NSC) increased from Rs 580 to Rs 1450 per quintal

and the Stale Seed Farm price of paddy rose from Rs 300 to Rs 900 showing a three-

fold increase.

The average daily wages of paddy farm labourers in the state had also been

increasing considerably in recent years. During the last one decade it self the

average daily wages of male farm workers increased from Rs.35.77 to Rs 118.90

showing an aggregate increase of 232.40 percent and the wage of female workers

rose from Rs.21.11 to Rs 78.80 registering an overall increase of 273.28 percent.

Meanwhile the increase in the farm price of paddy was only 90 percent. For six

hours of work the male and female paddy farm labourers in the study area used to

get Rs.110 and Rs.60 as their daily wages respectively. From 27, November 2001 the

rates are revised respectively as Rs 132 and Rs 72 showing a twenty percent

increase. Rapid increases in the cost of cultivation along with the relatively lower

growth rates in the farm prices of paddy, in the absence of any major improvements

in farm technology have adversely affected the profitability of the crop. The

declining profitability in turn induces paddy farmers to reduce the extent of the

application of agricultural inputs that may adversely affect the crop productivity.

5.1.4 Growing aversion of the new generation to paddy cultivation

Some decades back the middle and upper middle class households in

Kuttanad considered the ownership of paddy fields as a symbol of their social

status. Owners of large paddy fields commanded much social respect and

acceptance. Many well-educated youngsters from traditional farmer households

used to take up paddy cultivation as their full time job even though they had ample

chances to get permanent employment in various government and private services.

However, at present paddy cultivation in the study area has lost its glamour. The

new generation of people from farmer households is now looking for white collar

jobs and had developed a sort of aversion to take up paddy cultivation as their full

time occupation. As a well-educated and wealthy class most of the traditional paddy

farmers were able to educate their children. In course of time majority of the

youngsters from farmer households who had acquired higher education

qualifications managed to get permanent employment in the secondary and tertiary

sectors. Many of them are now working in other states and foreign countries as

emigrant labourers leaving the task of paddy farming to the old generation. The

mean age of the sample farmers in the study area is found to be 52 years and 10

percent of them are abo ve 70 years old. It is also observed that more than 55 percent

of them are having 50 or more year’s age while the percentage of farmers below 40

years old is only 18.9 percent. Further it is found that among the 17 cultivators in

the age group of 30 to 40 years only one person is a pure paddy cultivator while all

the others are engaged in other activities earning a major portion of their annual

income from other sources. Age distribution of sample farmers in the study area is

given in table 5.2.

Table 5.2

Age Distribution of Sample Cultivators in Ramankari Village

Age No. of cultivators Percentage 30-40 17 18.89 40-50 22 24.44 50-60 28 31.11 60-70 14 15.56

70 and above 9 10.00 Total 90 100.00

5.1.5 High rate crop failures

Frequent crop failures due to floods, saline water intrusion, breach of bunds

and plant diseases inflict heavy losses to paddy farmers in the study area. It is

estimated that during the virippu season, which extends from May-June to

September-October, 20000 to 25000 hectares of paddy fields in Kuttanad region are

affected by floodwaters48. There had been wide spread crop destruction in the study

area during the monsoon months of 1994, 1996 and 1997 due to the over flowing of

bunds and bund breaks and it had prompted many farmers to give up the second

crop. The puncha crop season begins with the retreat of northeast monsoon and

most of the paddy fields in the study area are sown by the first week of December.

Unexpected heavy rains after sowing in some years raise the water level in

padasekharams and destroys the sprouting seeds necessitating a second time sowing.

Due to the lack of timely repair at present many of the shutters of the

Thanneermukkom salt-water regulator are damaged and fail to prevent the ingress

of saline water in to paddy fields even if they are lowered during the puncha crop

season. Some local farmers alleged that the inland fishermen put stones beneath the

shutters to prevent their complete closure. As a result of it in many years the puncha

crop in the northern parts of Kuttanad is destroyed due to saline water intrusion.

The high incidence of plant diseases like sheath blight, blast, sheath rot and stack

burn also inflicts substantial damage to paddy crop in this area. Incidence of pests

like stem borers, after leaf rollers, case worms, brown plant hoppers, Siberian ducks

and rodents are also adversely affecting the crop productivity in the study area.

5.1.6 Lack of Proper Marketing System

Wide temporal variations are observed in the price of paddy in Kuttanad

area. Compared to non-harvesting season farm price of paddy decreases

considerably during the harvesting season. In order to clear their debts and due to

the lack of storage facilities a vast majority of the paddy farmers in the study area

sell their marketable surplus of the product immediately after harvest at the then

prevailing low prices. Nearly 85 percent of the marginal and small farmers, 73

percent of medium farmers and 58 percent of large farmers in the study area have

no granaries to store paddy. It is also found that nearly 40 percent of the sample

48 Babu Ambat (1992); Op.cit, p.54

farmers sell their entire product with out keeping any portion for self-consumption

and purchase rice through out the year. Even though, the state Agricultural

Department has envisaged the so-called Paddy Procurement Sc heme to emancipate

the farmers from middlemen exploitation, so far the scheme failed to yield the

desired results. Lack of warehouses in this area is said to be main hurdle for the

successful implementation of the scheme. Most of the co-operative societies, which

are entrusted with the task of paddy procurement very often, fail to get enough

funds in time. Usually they pay only half of the due amounts to farmers at the time

of Purchase and the balance amounts are paid only after they sell the procured

paddy. Again they insist on proper dryness. Therefore most of the paddy farmers

sell their product either to the agents of private rice mills or to private traders.

During the last crop season 61 percent of the farmers sold their paddy to the agents

of private mills, 26 percent sold it to private traders and only 12 percent of them

sold their product to co-operative societies even though the procurement price of

paddy had been 13 percent higher than the average price offered by private

agencies. Unlike the co-operative societies, agents of private mills and private

traders make spot payments or even advance payments and it attracts most of the

farmers towards them. Even though the state Warehousing Corporation has

proposed to set up composite rice mill at Thakazhi before the summer crop in 1999,

the plan was later dropped. The present procurement scheme, according to many

farmers, is laden with rampant curruption, favouritism and nepotism and only a

few influential rich farmers are taking benefit out of it.

5.1.7 Inadequate research and extension services

Paddy related agricultural research programmes in the state have not been

much successful as far as the needs of paddy farmers in Kuttanad area are

concerned. Since the introduction of the HVV seed jyothi (12-85) by the Pattambi

Rice Research Institute in 1972, no better seed varieties have so far been developed

in the state. Even though, the Kerala Agricultural University had introduced nine

new varieties of paddy seeds during the Eight Plan period it self they had not

become popular as the three decade old jyothi, which has a short duration of 110 to

115 days and a yield capacity of 2 to 2.5 tonnes per acre. The HYV seeds developed

later in the Mancombu Rice Research station like Asha, Pavizham, Aruna, Makam

and Kanakam with longer duration of 115 to 120 days also have failed to give better

yields. The word jyothi literally means light and according to many farmers the seed

had come as light to brighten their dim prospects in paddy cultivation. Even though

the yield capacity of the recently developed Uma marginally exceeds that of Jyothi,

the stalk of the plant is weaker and by the time of harvesting most of them fall in the

ground. As the quality its rice is found to be inferior it is sold at relatively lower

prices.

Even though soil testing laboratories had been set up at many places in

Kuttanad as part of the Package Programme majority of the farmers in the study

area are not aware of the importance of testing soil from their fields. The inordinate

delays in getting the results also deter a large number of them from soil testing. It is

found that 81 percent of the sample farmers in the study area have never tested the

soil in their paddy fields. In matters like the application of fertilizers, insecticides

and pesticides farmers are not often guided by farm experts or scientists. It is also

observed that a vast majority of the paddy farmers in the study area are not

participating in the agricultural extension programmes conducted by the State

Agricultural Department or other agencies. Thus the lack of an effective agency to

coordinate and supervise paddy cultivation in Kuttanad is a severe problem. Both in

the generation and dissemination of improved farm technology for the development

of the paddy sector, the service of research institutions is not much commendable.

5.1.8 Trade union militancy

During the early decades of the twentieth century paddy farm labourers in

Kuttanad had been loyal to the landlords and tenants to whom they were attached.

With the spread of Communist ideology the farm workers became aware of their

rights and the formation of labour union substantially enhanced their bargaining

power. Inspired by the Marxian doctrines of class struggle and dictatorship of the

proletariat they began to consider the traditional landlords and the agricultural

entrepreneurs who had initiated large scale reclamations of kayal lands as their

class enemies. Since the 1950’s the mutual destruct and hatred emerged between

farmers and farm labourers resulted i n frequent violent clashes in different parts of

Kuttanad. In course of time the paddy farmers in this region had to surrender to a

great extent to the might of the politically backed and well organized farm labour

unions as the collective bargaining power of the latter became more decisive.

At present almost all of the paddy farming activities in the study area are

carried out as per the dictates of labour union leaders and not according to the

wishes of the farmers. Initially labour unions were against the introduction of any

type of labour saving technology in paddy cultivation. But now a days they allow

paddy farmers to use tractors and power tillers for ploughing provided the

traditional plough labourers are given adequate compensation. For a permanent

settlement of their claim, plough labourers in the study area are to be given their

three years wage in advance that amounts to Rs.1725 per acre. Similarly unlike in

the past labour union leaders are now not against the use of threshing machines if

the wages of reapers are not affected. However, still they strongly oppose the use of

harvesting machines. Under the prevailing circumstances more mechanization of

farming activities implies higher cost production. In spite of it, a vast majority of the

paddy farmers in the study area are in favour of the mechanization of farm works,

especially the harvesting activities, so that they can complete the whole operations in

time and can thereby avoid much wastages. As a traditional paddy farmer from the

study area had sarcastically observed, “In olden days the system was no wage for

hard work, a few decades back it was fair wage for fair work and now it is good wage

for no work”.

Currently piece rates are given for some of the major paddy farming

activities like ploughing, sowing, manuring and spraying insecticides. These rates

are arbitrarily determined and periodically revised by labour union without even

consulting the concerned farmers. The privilege of farmers to supervise such

activities is so limited that they cannot practically suggest any modifications to the

ways in which such works are being carried out. In many cases registered head load

workers are employed to carry the reaped sheaves to threshing grounds and their

rates are at par with the ordinary rates of head load workers. Even though the IRC

of Kuttanad had upheld both the freedom of cultivators to fix the number of

workers and their right to select those whom they prefer, at present the farmers

prerogative to choose particular workers and their bargaining power in the fixation

of wages have been substantially reduced. Many farmers are of the opinion that the

once exploited class has now become exploiters and as one of the dejected farmers

has remarked, “Any self respecting person can no more pursue this occupation

suffering the humiliation from labour union dadas (leaders)”.

5.2 Suggestions

In order to facilitate the rapid and integrated development of Kuttanad

region so many studies had been conducted by expert committees, research

institutions and individual researchers during the past three decades. As the overall

development of the region is closely connected with the development of its paddy

farm sector most of these studies suggested several measures for the development of

paddy cultivation in this area. In 1971, the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission after

comparing the various aspects of paddy farming in Palakkad and Thrissur with

Kuttanad, had recommended the construction of permanent ring bunds and engine

floors, mechanization of certain farming operations, aerial spraying of insecticides,

setting up of the mobile soil testing laboratories, registration of agricultural

labourers and the formation of Kuttanad Development Authority for the betterment

of paddy cultivation in this region

In the year 1978, the Indian Institute for Regional Development Studies,

Kottayam conducted a detailed survey in Kuttanad. In its report it recommended

the control of the prices of agricultural in puts like seeds, pesticides and chemical

fertilizers49. The study also suggested the introduction of pest resistant seeds, prawn

farming in selected fields and enforcement of minimum wages and employment to

farm labourers. In the same year an expert committee appointed by the Sastra

Sahithya Parishat after examining the various problems and prospects of paddy

49 Indian Institute for Regional Development Studies (1978), Kuttanad Prasanangalum, Sadhythakalum (Mal), Thiruvananthapuram.

cultivation in Kuttanad region suggested the construction of permanent outer bunds

with farmers’ participation, manual and mechanical removal of weeds or their

destruction through the application of herbicides, introduction of more powerful

pump sets, training programmes to farmers in the use of pesticides etc., for the

development of paddy farming50.

Even though the state government had failed to implement most of the

recommendations of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission, it appointed another

committee chaired by A K Nambiar in 1978 to suggest proper measures for the

overall development of Kuttanad region. In its report the Committee put forward 21

suggestions for the consideration of the government51. Important among them were

the maintenance and strengthening of the leading channels of Thottappally

Spillway, setting up of a permanent machinery for forecasting flood water levels in

various parts of the region, strict enforcement of the K L Rao Committee

recommendations regarding the opening of the Thanneermukkom Regulators52,

fixation of support price for paddy, periodic revision and timely distribution of crop

subsidies, exemption to paddy farmers from income tax payments, eradication of

salvina and water hyacinth, quick completion of permanent ring bunds and

development of fish farming as a subsidiary occupation.

In 1986 the state government signed an agreement with the Dutch

government for setting up a joint Mission to conduct a comprehensive survey in

Kuttanad for its development planning. The Mission after conducting scientific

studies on various aspects like agriculture, fisheries, water management and

environment related to Kuttanad region submitted its report in 1989. For the

development of the paddy farm sector in Kuttanad the study proposed (1) effective

measures to control floods and salinity ingress, (2) more scientific planning and

management in paddy cultivation, (3) implementation of sub soil drainage system in

kari lands, (4) measures for the adequate supply of HYV seeds, (5) moderation in the

50 Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishat (1978): Problems of Kuttanad Report of the Study Team in Kuttanad, Thiruvananthapuram. 51 GOK (1978): Report on comprehensive Development of Kuttanad, Thiruvananthapuram 52 Before the construction of Thanneermukkom Salt Water Regulator, K L Rao Committee had put forward seven conditions, which include that the shutters of the Regulator should remain open for nine months from 15, March to 14, December every year.

use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides, (6) better surveillance and control of

plant diseases and pests, (7) mechanization of farming activities, (8) effective

machinery to impart training to farmers and (9) diversification of crops to

supplement paddy farmers’ income. With the implementation of these proposals,

the study anticipated that the per hectare productivity of the puncha and virippu

crops in Kuttanad could be enhanced by 12.20 percent and 20.05 percent

respectively.

Barely ten years after the study of the Indo-Dutch Mission, the state

government appointed another expert committee under the chairmanship of K N

Shyamasundaran Nair to study the various problems involved in paddy cultivation

in the state. In its not yet published report the Committee observes that ‘owing to

increasing cost of cultivation with out any commensurate increase in out put price’

paddy farmers in Kuttanad region want to supplement their income from rice

cultivation and ‘the present monocropping system is neither ecologically sound nor

economically suitable’. Hence it recommends rice based integrated system of

farming involving a short season crop of fish as an ideally suitable system for the

wetlands of Kuttanad .

Earlier PGK Panikar had proposed a change in the organization of paddy

cultivation in Kuttanad region so that the use of hired labour can be reduced to the

minimum by the redistribution of paddy to landless agricultural labourers who

might apply own labour to the maximum extent53. But contrary to his expectation

many of the paddy farm labourers who had acquired the redistributed surplus

lands are leasing out their paddy lands to others. For the development of paddy

cultivation in this region Joan P Mencher had advocated the abolition of absentee

land lordism and setting up of meaningful co-operative farming54. However, past

experiences prove that co-operative farming is not a viable solution to mitigate the

problems in paddy cultivation in Kuttanad. The three padasekharams of Rani,

Chithra and Marthandom (Q, S, T) which had been successfully cultivated by an

53 Panikar PGK (1971): Minute of Dissent, Report of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission, p.39 54 Mencher Joan (1978): Agrarian Relations in Two Rice Regions of Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XIII, Nos.6.7, February, p.364.

enterprising farmer since their reclamations were taken over and redistributed

among landless labourers in 1975. Later they were organized as co-operative

farming societies. Paddy farming carried out by the co-operative societies in these

fields with the active guidance and support of the various government departments

turned out to be a failure and had to be stopped in 1994. Thereafter these

padasekharams are kept fallow. Our field investigations also show that majority of

the paddy farmers in the study area are against the system of co-operative farming.

Considering the earlier suggestions made by experts and the prevailing

realities in the padasekharams of Kuttanad we propose the following measures for

the development of paddy cultivation in the study area. Temporary measures like

the enhancement and timely disbursement of production bonus, reduction in power

tariffs, introduction of old age pension scheme for farmers etc., may appease paddy

farmers to some extent for the time being but bold and decisive steps are needed to

redress their grievances permanently.

The prospects of paddy cultivation in Kuttanad is invariably related to the

profitability of the crop that in turn depends on the cost of cultivation and income

from farming. Compared to the other major rice producing areas in the state

cultivation costs are found to be higher in Kuttanad and the difference is mainly due

to higher costs on human labour. By adopting a positive approach to mechanization

of farming activities the mounting cost of cultivation can be lessened and the

problem of labour shortage can be reduced to a great extent. It is estimated that

nearly 45 percent of costs on human labour is incurred for harvesting. By using

composite harvesting machines much money and time can be saved. While in

manual harvesting nearly 30 percent of the product is lost in the process, a

harvesting machine takes only 20 to 40 minutes to harvest an acre of paddy crop

without any waste. Aerial spraying of insecticides is also found to be more effective

and economical. Time saving devices are of great importance in a region like

Kuttanad where the geographic and climatic constraints restrict the span of

cropping season to a very limited period. Thus mechanization should be given top

priority in all the further efforts towards the development of paddy cultivation in

this region.

Mechanization of farming technology and permanent land improvement

activities require huge capital investments. Sincere efforts are to be made to

encourage private investments by attracting agricultural entrepreneurs to the area.

The two factors that inhibit large private investments in paddy cultivation in this

region are the statutory ceiling to paddy land holdings and the militancy of farm

labour unions. Unlike many other crops, the profit cost ratio is still high in paddy

cultivation and in order to make it an economically viable occupation either the land

ceiling must be raised or removed as in the case of plantation crops. Such a step will

reduce the extent of illegal tenancy and absentee landlordism that exist throughout

this region. Economic benefits of mechanization currently enjoyed by the farm

labourers should be transferred to the farmers. Unemployment problem that many

arise in this process is to be handled by the government and the prevailing system of

farmers paying compensation for the loss of employment must be stopped. Farmers’

prerogative in determining the number of labourers they have to use for a

particular operation and their freedom to select the workers of their choice are to be

protected. It effective steps are taken to curb the aggressive trade union activities

private enterprises will be ready to set up modern composite rice mills in this region

and many problems related to marketing the product can be reduced. At present the

state government is providing pecuniary benefits to the real and bogus paddy

farmers alike. Instead, it should arrange long -term loans on liberal conditions to

genuine farmers to undertake permanent land improvement measures or to

purchase costly farm equipments and machines.

The problem of the excessive growth of weeds like water hyacinth and

salvinia can be controlled by the strict adherence to the stipulations of the V L Rao

committee regarding the opening and closure of the Thanneermukkom Bund. If its

shutters remain opened for nine months in every year the periodic tidal inflows

from the Arabian sea will wash out most of the accumulated impurities and wastes

in water ways and channels around the padasekharams. To some extent monsoon

floods can be controlled by the restructuring of the Thottappally Spillway and the

periodic removal of the accumulated mud from the Alapuzha-Changanacherry

main canal and the other channels in this area. Local bodies may be persuaded to

set apart a portion of their funds for removing weeds and wastes from waterways,

which will create additional employment opportunities to the rural work force.

Effective arrangements are to be made for the surveillance and control of plant

various agricultural research institutions and krishibhavans functioning in this area.

The wetland ecological system of Kuttanad is conducive for inland fish

culture. It is found that at present after the summer crop 81 percent of

padasekharams in this region are kept fallow for eight months. If a system of rice-

fish rotation in which culture fishes and prawns are reared in paddy fields after the

puncha crop is adopted, paddy fields become more fertile and productivity can be

increased by 30 to 40 percent. Costs on weeding can be substantially reduced and

ploughing costs can be avoided as the culture fishes feed of weeds and keep the soil

loose. An experiences shows that the farmers can get an additional income of 10000

to 25000 rupees if the integrated method is adopted. In addition to generating 70 to

100 working days per acre the method ensures the ecological sustainability of the

region by avoiding the excess application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. As

pointed out by the Shyamasundaran Nair Committee, the integration of aquaculture

with traditional rice farming can be developed as a safe strategy to sustain rice

production, increase profits and maintain ecological balance. Once paddy farming

in this region is made economically viable, the state government can stop the

pumping subsidies, production incentive bonus and similar benefits currently given

to the farmers. The amount that would be saved can be used to provide basic

infrastructural facilities in this area.

* * * * *

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Government Publication, Reports

1. Government of Kerala (GOK), (1976), Agricultural Statistics in Kerala, 1975, Bureau of Economics and Statistics (BES), Thiruvanathapuram.

2. GOK, Economic Review (various issues), State Planning Board,

Thiruvananthapuram. 3. GOK (1967), Fact Book on Agriculture 1966, BES, Thiruvananthapuram 4. GOK (1982), Food Projection for Kerala State up to 2001 AD, SPB,

Thiruvananthapuram

5. GOK (1976), High Yielding Varieties Programme in Kerala (Virippu Paddy 1973-74), An Evaluation Study, SPB, Thiruvananthapuram

6. GOK (1989), Kerala State Gazetteer, Vol.III, Gazetteers Department,

Thiruvananthapuram

7. GOK (1991), Report of the Cost of Cultivation of Important Crops in Kerala

1989-90, Department of Economics and Statistics, Thiruvananthapuram 8. GOK (1971), Report of the Kuttanad Enquiry Commission,

Thiruvanathapuram

9. Indian Institute for Regional Development Studies (1978), Kuttanad-Prasanangalum, Sadhyathakalum, (Mal.), Thiruvananthapuram

10. Indo-Dutch Mission (1989), Kuttanad Water Balance Study, Vol.1, Main

Report and Annex A to E, Thiruvananthapuram

11. Kerala Agricultural University (1984), Status Report Region of Problem Areas, Agricultural Research Project, Vellanikkara, Thrissur

12. Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishat (1978), Problems of Kuttanad - Report of the

Study Team in Kuttanad, Thiruvananthapuram

B. Books and Articles

1. Alex George (1987), Social and Economic Aspects of Attached Labourers in Kuttanad Agriculture, Economic and Political weekly, Vol.XXII, No.52, 26 December.

2. Alexander K C (1973), Emerging Farmer Labour Relations in Kuttanad, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.VII, No.14, 25 August.

3. Babu Ambat (1992), Kuttanad, Facts and Fallacy (Kuttanad, Midhyayum,

Yadharthiyavum) (Mal.), Kerala Sastra Parishath, Kozhikode.

4. Eapen Mridul (1994), Rural Non-agricultural Labourers in Kerala-some Emerging Tendencies, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XXIX, No.21, 21 May

5. Easwaran K K (1994), Keralathil Veendum Paatta Vyavastha - Oru

Grameena Padanam (Mal), Kerala Padangal, January-March

6. Geethadevi T V (1995), Integrated Pest Management in Human Ecological Perspective, Unpublished M Phil Dissertation, School of Social Sciences, Kottayam

7. George P S, Mukherjee Chandan (1988), Rice Economy of Kerala - A

Disaggregate Analysis of Performance, Working Paper No.213, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

8. Harikumar S (1991), Informal Leasing in Kerala - A Study of Kuttanad,

Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 46, No.3, July-September

9. Jayaprakash K (1998), Killing Pesticides, Express Week, Indian Express, Kochi, 17 January

10. Jose A V (1977), The Origin of Trade Unionism Among the Agricultural

Labourers in Kerala, Social Scientist, Vol.5, no.2, July

11. Kallarackal George V (1996), Emergence of Land Property-The Case of Travancore, Unpublished M Phil Dissertation, School of Social Sciences, Kottayam

12. Kamalasanan N K (1993), Kuttanadum Karshaka Thozhilali Prasthanavum

(Mal.), D C Books, Kottayam

13. Kannan K P (1979), Socio-Economic and Ecological Consequences of Water Control Projects; The Case of Kuttanad in Kerala (India), Working Paper No.87, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvanathapuram

14. Kannan K P, Pushpangadan K (1988), Agricultural Stagnation and Economic

Growth in Kerala - An Exploratory Analysis, Working Paper No.227, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

15. Krishnaji N (1979), Agrarian Relations and the Left Movement in Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.14, no.9, 3 March

16. Krishnamoorthy V (1998), Keralathil Nelkrishi: Prasnangalum,

Sadhyathakalum (Mal.), Mathrubhoomi Annual Edition on Agriculture, 27 December

17. Krishnan Kaniyamparambil (1998), Lakshiam Samagra Grameena

Vikasana (Mal.), Mathrubhoomi Annual Edition on Agriculture, 27 December

18. Kurup K K N (1989), Agrarian Struggles in Kerala, C B H Publications, Thiruvanathapuram

19. Meenakshi J V (1996), How Important Are Changes in Tastes - A State

Level Analysis of Food Intake, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.31, No.50, 14 December

20. Mencher Joan P (1978), Agrarian Relations in Two Rice Regions of

Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.13, Nos.6-7, February

21. Mencher Joan P (1980), Lessons and Non-lessons of Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.15, Nos.41-42, October

22. Mencher Joan P, Saradamoni K (1982), Muddy Feet, Dirty Hands - Rice

Production and Female Agricultural Labour, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.17, No.52 December

23. Ninan K N (1984), Labour Use in Agriculture - Case studies of Tapioca

and Paddy, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.19, Nos.52-53, 22-29 December

24. Oommen T K (1975), Agrarian Legislations and Movements as Sources of

change-The case of Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.10, No.40, 4 October

25. Oommen M A (1994), Land Reforms and Economic Change - Experience

and Lesson from Kerala, in B A Prakash (ed.), Kerala’s Economy, Sage Publications, New Delhi

26. Panikar P G K (1978), Employment, Income and Food Intake Among

Selected Agricultural Labour Households, Economic and Political Weekly, Special Number, August

27. Pillai P P (1994), Kerala Economy, Institute of Planning and Applied

Economic Research, John Matthai Foundation, Thrissur 28. Pillai V R, Panikar P G K (1965), Land Reclamations in Kerala, Asia

Publishing House, Bombay

29. Prakash B A (1987), Agricultural Development of Kerala from 1800 AD to 1980

AD - A Survey of Studies, Working Paper No.220, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

30. Radhakrishnan V, et.al., (1994), Performance of Rice Crop in Kerala, in B

A Prakash(ed.), Kerala’s Economy, Sage Publications, New Delhi.

31. Pushpangadan K (1992), Wage Determination in a Casual Labour Market -The

case of Paddy Field Labour in Kerala, Working Paper No.244, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

32. Rajasekharan P (1999), Nelkrishi; Ini Ethra Naal (Mal), Mathrubhoomi,

Kochi, 5 January

33. Rakesh Mohan et.al. (1973), Indian Agricultural Research System, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.8, No.13, 31 March

34. Shaji Francis K (1991), Dynamics of Rural Labour Markets - An Analysis of

Emerging Agricultural Labour Shortage in a Kerala Region, Unpublished M Phil Dissertation, Center for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

35. Sukumaran Nair M K (1997), Rural Labour Market in Kerala - Small

Holder Agriculture and Labour Market Dynamics, Economic and Political Weekly, 30 August

36. Sukumaran Nair M K (1999), Emerging Trends in Labour Shortage in

Agriculture, in B A Prakash (ed.), Kerala’s Economic Development, Sage Publications, New Delhi

37. Suseelan P (1988), Problems and Prospects of Rice in Kerala, Paper

Presented in VIII Five Year Plan Workshop on Agr icultural Development, Thiruvananthapuram, 6 October

38. Thamaramangalam J (1981), Agrarian class conflict - The Political Mobilisation

of Agricultural Labourers in Kuttanad, S. India, University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver

39. Thomas Joseph A, Thomas T A (1999), Reaping Before Sowing Agrarian

Ralations in Kuttanad, in B A Prakash(ed.), Kerala’s Economic Development, Sage Publications, New Delhi

40. Thomas P M (1999), Agricultural Performance in Kerala, in B A

Prakash(ed.), Kerala’s Economic Development, Sage Publications, New Delhi

41. Thomas T A (1994), Changing Agrarian Practices, Structural Changes and Labour Supply - A study Special Reference to Kuttanad, Unpublished M Phil Dissertation, Kerala University

42. Unni Jeemol (1981), An Analysis of Changes in Cropping Pattern In Kerala,

Unpublished M Phil Dissertation, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

43. Varghese T C (1970), Agrarian Change and Economic Consequences,

Land Tenures in Kerala 1850-1960, Allied Publishers, Bombay

44. Venugopal P (1994), Paddy Fields Fast Becoming Housing Plots, The

Indian Express, Kochi, 16 February

* * * * *